The National Book Festival will not be held at the Washington Convention Center this year. Instead, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced, they will organize a virtual festival, with online events the weekend of September 25–27. The Bookseller’s YA Book Prize was given to Juno Dawson’s Meat Market (Quercus Children’s). McNally Jackson owner Sarah McNally writes an op-ed for the NYT about why many New York landlords would rather see retail spaces sit empty than give rent concessions. (Admitting to lower rents reduces the value of the building.) “We could solve our vacancy problem for good if all landlords simply […]
Book Fairs
With or Without You, Frankfurt Will Convene An Actual, Smaller Book Fair
The supervisory board of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association has decided to convene some form of the Frankfurt Book Fair this October, following approval from the Hessian government. As previously indicated, they plan to use a smaller portion of the actual fairgrounds, with some activities throughout the city and other virtual events online. The fair will be smaller, and from current indications more focused on the German book business and German public. For now, fair organizers says they “expect exhibitors from throughout Europe to participate in the event in Frankfurt and, depending on future travel restrictions, from further abroad […]
Frankfurt Promises to Share Their New Vision Soon
Frankfurt Book Fair director Juergen Boos spoke with Ed Nawotka in an hour-long video conversation, to discuss a broad range of plans in formation for this year’s event. The big takeaway, as indicated in a previous statement, is that Frankfurt will not keep the community in suspense about their plans for long: Boos reaffirmed that by “early June we will be prepared to announce how Frankfurt is going to look like” this year. The current vision, as expressed in the conversation, is a hybrid of virtual events and a spread out version of the live fair itself. “I think it’s […]
People, Etc.
Dana Li has joined Catapult/Counterpoint as designer. She was previously at Penguin Children’s. Deirdre Bair, 84, who won the 1981 National Book Award for Samuel Beckett: A Biography, died on Friday in her home in New Haven, CT of heart failure. Awards The UK Women’s Prize announced its shortlist. (As a reminder, they postponed naming the winner until until September 9.): Dominicana, by Angie Cruz (Flatiron/John Murray) Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo (Grove/Hamish Hamilton) A Thousand Ships, by Natalie Haynes (Mantle) The Mirror and the Light, by Hilary Mantel (Holt/Fourth Estate) Hamnet, by Maggie O’ Farrell (Knopf/Headline) Weather, by Jenny […]
Book Expo Will Provide Partial Refunds Upon Request
In response to our query, Book Expo and Book Con show director Jenny Martin indicated they will provide refunds to exhibitors on request. The organizers’ preference is to roll amounts paid towards the 2021 show, but Martin says their contract provides for a refund of 80 percent and they stand ready to do so. “Exhibitors will receive a letter detailing this process via email,” we were told. Martin says in her reply to us, “100% of amounts paid for exhibit space or media to date for BookExpo, UnBound and BookCon will be rolled over towards participation in our 2021 edition…. […]
Reed Finally Admits There Will be No Book Expo or Book Con This Year
On Tuesday afternoon, Reed Exhibitions conceded what all of the industry’s largest companies had already made plain on their own: Book Expo and Book Con, which organizers had hoped to hold at rescheduled dates in late July, will not be held at all in 2020. “As the pandemic has continued to escalate in the United States and we see the challenges it has brought for the book industry, it is clear that 2020 is no longer a viable option for this community,” the company said. Their statement indicates that individual tickets purchased for 2020 will be refunded automatically, though it […]