For global publishing the new normal is yet to fully emerge, but we can be certain we’ll see a lot more publishing events migrate online this year.
No details yet on the digital version, but the organisers behind the annual Leipzig Book Fair, which typically attracts 300,000 visitors, making it second only to Frankfurt in the German book calendar, will not go ahead in person this year, as in 2020.
Leipzig was one of the early casualties of the pandemic as the first wave hit, and as we approach the first anniversary of Covid-19’s arrival in Europe the Leipzig event is again a casualty, but this time not a fatality.
Rather, the event will go ahead online, although as yet there are no details about what we might expect.
With hindsight it should come as no surprise that the second wave hitting Europe in 2021 is once again wreaking havoc with the book fair calendar. Scientists left little room for doubt that the pandemic would run into 2021, and with the new variants emerging and the vaccination programme still barely scratching the surface of the problem, we might yet see the pandemic’s impact extend into 2022.
For global publishing the new normal is yet to fully emerge, but we can be certain we’ll see a lot more publishing events migrate online this year.
