The inaugural Emirates Airlines International Festival of Literature in Dubai got off to a rocky start yesterday with reports that Geraldine Bedell, originally under consideration but not on the festival’s final schedule, had been disinvited because her novel, The Gulf Between Us, contains references to homosexuality. “I do not want our festival remembered for the launch of a controversial book,” the Times of London reports festival director Isobel Abulhoul wrote to Bedell. “If we launched the book and a journalist happened to read it, then you could imagine the political fallout that would follow.” Bedell also told the Times of […]
Book Fairs
What Should BEA Do?
BEA show director responds to some of the chatter (and complaints) about the recently-announced decision to keep BEA in New York and change to a mid-week rather than a weekend show. “This fall we went through a process of recreating the event as if there never had been a BEA before… The location seemed like an easy choice, you’d base it in the capital of the publishing world, just like the biggest gaming show is in Vegas and the auto show is in Detroit.” As for dates, “after booksellers, the majority of attendees are professionals and they are not typically […]
Book Expo Canada Cancelled
Recent assurances from Reed’s Publishers Weekly notwithstanding, Reed Exhibitions announced yesterday that June’s Book Expo Canada is being closed “effective immediately.” Reed executive Greg Topalian says “it has become clear that the dynamics of the publishing industry in Canada is no longer best served by a traditional trade event.”Canadian customers are welcome at BEA in New York: “Our focus on the publishing industry now centers on our event in New York and we look forward to serving the needs of our customers in North America most effectively with a singular event.” BEC will provide full refunds to the small number […]
Smaller Publishers to Skip BEC, Too
Following the withdrawal of Canadian units of Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins from the Book Expo Canada trade show, other publishers are announcing that they too will skip the show this year. Scholastic Canada, H.B. Fenn and Company, and DK/Tourmaline tell Quill & Quire they will not exhibit. Executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers Carolyn Wood says, “I won’t write it off yet, but I won’t bet any big money on seeing a trade show this year.”Q&Q
More Withdrawals from Book Expo Canada
HarperCollins Canada and Penguin Canada have joined Random House Canada in announcing that they will not exhibit at this year’s Book Expo Canada trade show. Simon & Schuster Canada is the only one of the country’s four largest publishers that has said it will participate, though president Kevin Hanson indicates their involvement will be modest. The Globe and Mail writes: “Are booksellers in Vancouver or Edmonton or Halifax going to commit to coming to Toronto knowing that three former anchor tenants won’t be there? And will other small or medium-sized publishers bow out now that the lure of the big guys […]
Previewing Canada's Second Book Fair
Reed Exhibitions is to present its vision to publishers today for a consumer-focused book show to be held in Toronto, likely on a weekend in early October “at an indoor venue on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds,” the Globe and Mail reports. They add, “The fair is Reed’s response to what has long been a major criticism of BookExpo and its predecessor – that they haven’t been inclusive enough, restricting their buzz to exhibitors and publishers to the exclusion of the public and thereby failing to drive sales.” It also comes as BEC–their Canadian trade show–continues to lose support, most […]