The LBF would do well to take leaf from the SNE which has at least had the guts to give a clear and early signal to publishers.
As Paris and 15 French departments entered another lockdown this week, the French Publishers Association (SNE – Syndicat National de l’Edition) confirmed the 2021 Paris Book Fair, originally set for March 19-22 but then postponed until May 28-31, has been cancelled for the year.
The focus will now be on a new event in 2022 that will not involve Reed Exhibitions France. There appears to be no serious plans for a digital substitute.
Elsewhere around the world it’s mixed signals, with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair assuring us it will go head as a hybrid event, while in Egypt the Alexandria International Book Fair is set to go ahead March 25-April 3, and the gigantic Cairo International Book Fair – in better times the world’s biggest literary event – is intended to go ahead June 30 through July 15.
In the UK the future of the London Book Fair remains on a knife-edge as organisers drag out the days until their promised end-of-March decision on whether the London Book Fair will go ahead.
The LBF would do well to take leaf from the SNE which has at least had the guts to give a clear and early signal to publishers.
