Location, location: The London Book Fair

Arts Hub UK — Last year the London Book Fair moved location and dissent spread through the publishing industry - this April, much to everyone's relief, it's back at Earl's Court. Jane Eastwood looks at the fair, the gossip, the names and the issues on the agenda at one of the biggest events in British publishing.
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Arts Hub UK — The UK publishing industry is not fond of change. Even before the move of London International Book Fair (LIBF) to ExCel in 2006 attendees were itching to damn the new location. Muffled complaints about long tube journeys soon escalated into full scale rants about overpriced sandwiches and inadequate directional signing as the fair got underway. Dissatisfaction culminated in Stella Kane’s announcement of her intention to host a rights centre in the Mayfair based Arts Club to rival the 2007 London Bookfair event. Her comment being: ‘Instead of shivering in a wind-swept barn furnished with nylon day-glo carpets, queuing half an hour for Benjy’s sandwiches with a 200% mark up, why not have your appointments in the illustrious surroundings of the Arts Club, which has been a meeting place for writers since 1863?’

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Jane Eastwood
About the Author
Jane Eastwood is a freelance editor and writer and has been working in the publishing industry for the last three years, for Virgin Books, Elwin Street Productions and currently at Carlton Books.