London Book Fair

International gathering for its 40th year!

The much-awaited London Book Fair 2011 was held from April 11-13, 2011 in London celebrating its 40th anniversary.

London Book FairThis year, the Fair featured over 1,600 exhibiting companies from 58 countries including Turkey, Iran and Kuwait – all new for 2011. The Russia Market Focus 2011 placed a spotlight on contemporary Russian authors and Russia as an important publishing arena in the international community. The Russia Pavilion was the largest Market Focus Pavilion to date, and featured over 60 major publishers from Russia.

The London Book Fair also hosted a bigger and better digital offering than ever before. The Digital Zone doubled its number of exhibitors (from 22 in 2010 to 46 in 2011), floor space and countries attending. Over 14 countries were represented, compared to 7 countries in 2010 including, for 2011, newcomers from South Korea, Italy and Greece.

A diverse programme of nearly 300 seminars and events addressing key industry issues took place across the three days of the Fair, with over 500 speakers.

The Children’s & Young Adult Publishing Zone was one of the Fair’s largest zones and main seminar streams, featuring 150 exhibitors with a further 450 general exhibitors offering children’s content.

International chefs from France to Romania and Denmark to Dubai, took part in live cookery demonstrations throughout the show in the Cook Book Corner, located in Earls Court Two.

Besides, The London Book Fair also welcomed bestselling authors Claire Tomalin, Boris Akunin and Julia Donaldson with illustrator Axel Scheffler, as the Authors of the Day for 2011. This popular initiative, introduced in 2006, witnessed the authors spending a day at the Fair, where they showcased their work across a programme of seminars, book signings etc.

The London Book Fair annually attracts over 23,000 attendees – 58 percent are domestic and 42 percent are from overseas.The International Rights Centre was sold out, with all 575 tables taken, compared to 569 in 2010.

The London Book Fair 2012 will take place from April 16-18, 2012 at Earls Court, London and the Market Focus country 2012 will be China.