BookBrunch London Book Fair 2016 Preview by BookBrunch

The

London Book Fair Preview Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

400th Anniversary Shakesperience

London Book & Screen Week 11th-17th April 2016

Quantum Conference Monday 11th April 2016

The London Book Fair

Tuesday 12th April: 09:00–18:30 Wednesday 13th April: 09:00–18:30 Thursday 14th April: 09:00–17:00

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

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Cover image © Oscar Grillo from The Tempest, Graphic Shakespeare series published by Can of Worms Press 2009

Transportation to the London Book Fair, Olympia London, Hammersmith Rd, W14 8UX TRAINS

Olympia London has a dedicated rail station–Kensington (Olympia) which is served by London Overground and national rail networks. Please be aware that the District Line from Kensington (Olympia) will NOT be running during the Fair. However, a further five Underground lines are connected only a short walk away. A special bus service for Fair attendees will run from Earls Court tube station to Olympia. Overground: Kensington (Olympia) is on the London Overground network; one stop away from Shepherd’s Bush (Central Line) or West Brompton (District Line). Piccadilly Line: Hammersmith station is a 15 minute walk away.

Bus routes

The following buses all stop within a very short walking distance of Olympia. 9: runs from Aldwych to Hammersmith (south) and Hammersmith to Aldwych (north). There is also a night bus route–N9. 10: runs from Kings Cross to Hammersmith (south) and Hammersmith to Kings Cross (north). There is also a night bus route–N10–that extends to Richmond (south). 27: runs from Chalk Farm to Turnham Green (south) and Turnham Green to Chalk Farm (north). This bus runs 24 hours a day.

Hammersmith & City Line: Hammersmith station is a 5 minute bus ride or 15 minute walk away.

28: runs from Kensal Rise to Wandsworth (south) and Wandsworth to Kensal Rise (north). There is also a night bus route–N28–that extends to Camden Town (north).

Circle Line: Hammersmith station is a 5 minute bus ride or 15 minute walk away. High Street Kensington is a 4 minute bus ride or 12 minute walk away.

49: runs from White City to Clapham Junction (south) and Clapham Junction to White City (north).

District Line: West Brompton is a 5 minute walk away. Alternatively West Kensington is an 8 minute walk away, and High Street Kensington is a 4 minute bus ride or 12 minute walk away. For further London Underground Travel Information call +44 (0)20 7222 1234 or visit: www.tfl.gov.uk.

PARKING

Parking is available at Olympia and we strongly advise booking in advance to guarantee a space. A limited number of first-come, firstserved bays are available and charged at a 2-hourly tariff.

391: runs from Fulham to Richmond (south) and Richmond to Fulham (north). For driving routes and more travel information visit: www.londonbookfair.co.uk/venue-travel/events/.

To pre-book your parking please call +44 (0) 20 7598 2515 between 09.00–17.00, Monday to Friday, or visit the Olympia website and book ■ online. Please be aware of the Congestion Zone when driving.

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

Get ready for the London Book Fair Nicholas Clee & Neill Denny, Joint Editors, BookBrunch Once, the London Book Fair was largely a trade exhibition, with perhaps the odd author in attendance to add colour. Now, though the floor of Olympia remains the core of the LBF’s programme, the week of the Fair sees a huge range of activities. There is the International Publishers Association Nicholas Clee Congress, opening on Saturday, conducting its main business on Sunday, joining the Quantum conference on Monday, and joining the Fair on Tuesday. There is the Quantum Conference itself, the new incarnation of what was previously Digital Minds and featuring impressive speakers including Nick Bostrom, Professor of Philosophy at Oxford University, and Gail Rebuck, who the following day will receive the LBF Lifetime Achievement Award. There is Shakesperience, a celebration of the global appeal of William Shakespeare in the year that marks the 400th anniversary of his death, with readings in eight

languages and with appearances by three starry Authors of the Day, all contributors to the Hogarth Shakespeare series. And there is the second London Book and Screen Week, a series of satellite events highlighting the multimedia influence of books. BookBrunch will be at the Neill Denny heart of events as always, publishing Show Daily issues with our colleagues at Publishers Weekly. We’re proud to be sponsors of the inaugural Trailblazer Awards, also supported by London Book Fair and the Society of Young Publishers–there will be an event paying tribute to the Trailblazers’ achievements at the Fair. And we’re also delighted to be involved in London Book and Screen Week, as co-sponsors with Fashion on Screen of Growing Up With Bob Hoskins–Rosa Hoskins discusses her moving memoir, It’s All Going Wonderfully Well, with Larushka Ivan-Zadeh on Friday 15 April. ■

“We’re proud to be sponsors of the inaugural Trailblazer Awards, also supported by London Book Fair and the Society of Young Publishers–there will be an event paying tribute to the Trailblazers’ achievements at the Fair.” For the first time, BookBrunch will have a stand at the Fair on

Level 1, 2A61

BookBrunch will again be producing the London Book Fair Show Dailies with PublishersWeekly. To contact us at the Fair with your news, visit us on the BookBrunch stand 2A61 or the Publishers Weekly stand or email editor@bookbrunch.co.uk At the Fair from BookBrunch

At the Fair from Publishers Weekly

Publisher: Tobias Steed Editors: Nicholas Clee and Neill Denny Reporter: Jasmin Kirkbride Editorial Co-ordinator: Marian Sheil Tankard Layout and Production: Heather McIntyre

Publisher: Cevin Bryerman Associate Publisher: Joe Murray Editor: Andrew Albanese Reporters: Rachel Deahl and Ed Nawotka

Head of Business Development: Jane Tappuni Chair of the Advisory Board: David Roche Subscribe to BookBrunch via www.bookbrunch.co.uk

To subscribe to Publishers Weekly, call 800-278-2991 or go to www.publishersweekly.com To advertise with BookBrunch please contact Tobias Steed, tobias@bookbrunch.co.uk or Jane.Tappuni@bookbrunch.co.uk

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

The History of London Olympia For over a century, Olympia has Hippodrome event. This was hosted trade shows and events from followed by an Exhibition of Sporting around the world, bringing Dogs by Mr Charles Cruft among commerce and culture to England’s many others, including circus, horse capital. and aeronautical shows. Even in its earliest days, during By 1914, it was a fixture on the construction from 1884-1886, London scene, but during World War Olympia attracted the attention of I it was requisitioned as a temporary the greatest architects and civil prison camp for German An elevation of Olympia from 1886. intellectuals, who marvelled at its nationals and then, from 1915 1200 tonne iron frame and 2500 sheets of inch-thick onwards, as an army clothing store. glass cladding. They were right to be amazed, as the After the war, the hall was booked up quickly, with the building has stood the test of time: even in the ‘great iconic Ideal Homes Show returning in 1920. By the late storm’ of 1987, the only thing damaged was a small 1920s, the hall had a firm base of ‘regulars’ for its ventilation hatch! exhibitions calendar. In those days, Olympia catered for Originally called the Royal Agricultural Hall, by the exhibitions, and on one particularly memorable time it opened on 26 December 1886, the site had occasion, hosted the Masonic war memorial funding become known as Olympia. After initial financial dinner, the so-called “Feast of the 8,000”. Diners sat at difficulties, the hall found its feet by hosting the Paris three miles of tables, served by 1,360 waitresses,

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

supported by 700 cooks and porters, with 86,000 glasses and plates in use. Breakages totalled 3,500! During World War I, the owner Sir Gilbert Greenhall took advantage of falling house prices to buy up land around the 1886/87 Olympia’s inaugural event, site, which allowed him to the ‘Paris Hippodrome’. expand in the following years and build the New Hall. The whole complex was then sold on in 1929 for the princely sum of £1 million. The new owner, Philip Ernest Hill, expanded again by building the Empire Hall (now Olympia Central). Once again during World War II, Olympia was requisitioned, first as a civilian internment camp then, during the Dunkirk evacuation, as General Charles de Gaulle’s assembly point for what became the Free

French Army. It became in turn a transport depot, a clothing store, and finally a demobilisation centre, up until 1946. After that, exhibitions began again in earnest, including the 1953 Motor Show which had queues tendeep right back to Philbeach Gardens, and the first ever computer exhibition, British Electronic Computer Exhibition, in 1958. Despite threats of development in the early 1970s, the 1973 oil crisis ensured that Olympia retained its purpose, and booked large and small exhibitions back-to-back to survive the 1978/9 ‘Winter of Discontent’. In 2012, Olympia celebrated its 125th anniversary, with a huge £40 million reinvestment taking place the following year. Since its inception the halls have hosted half a mile of jam from the WI; countless horse shows and sports events; boxing, boating and now even books, as the London Book Fair is set to return for its second year at the site. ■

1919 The Cycle and Motor Cycle Show

1947 The British Industries Fair

1949 The National Poultry Show

1954/55 The first National Boat Show

1958 The British Electronic Computer Exhibition

1967 Cruft’s Dog Show

2012 125th Anniversary Poster by Peter Blake

2012 125th Anniversary Poster by Sanna Annukka

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

Welcome to the London Book Fair 2016! Jacks Thomas, Director of The London Book Fair Welcome to this year’s Book Fair and to London– the creative capital of the world–in a year in which, here at LBF, we celebrate our 45th anniversary. Bringing you the very best our global book industry has to offer, this year the Fair will be more diverse, ambitious and captivating than ever before. Once again the halls of Olympia Jacks Thomas will showcase books on every subject, as more than 25,000 professionals from publishing, film, television, brand licensing, gaming and advertising all rub shoulders with each other. Last year’s Publishing Digital Minds becomes Quantum Conference: Publishing and So Much More with a keynote address by Baroness Rebuck, and our comprehensive Insights Seminar Programme, running

ticke ts availab le

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A WORLD EVENT IN A WORLD CITY Celebrating 45 Years of The London Book Fair Now in its 45th year, The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. We believe LBF is the place to inform your thinking and make the contacts that will move your business forward. LBF will return to Olympia, in the heart of West London, from 12-14 April 2016 and is ideally located with a variety of transport links to Central London and beyond. We look forward to meeting you there – buy your ticket today.

www.londonbookfair.co.uk/buyaticket

over the course of the Fair and offering more than 200 events across the show floor and around Olympia, will be full of informative and provocative debate and will bring together the sharpest minds from the industry and beyond. As ever, authors will be at the heart of the Fair. This year we are marking the 400 year anniversary of the death of Shakespeare in style and launching the Shakesperience. From multi-lingual performances of some of his mostloved works, to retellings of his plays by esteemed authors Howard Jacobson, Jeanette Winterson and Tracey Chevalier, our Shakespeare Authors of the Day, we will be hosting a raft of celebrations to honour the Bard’s influence around the world. This year will herald our biggest and most ambitious Author of the Day programme. Professor Nick Bostrom, Judith Kerr and Marian Keyes join our Shakespeare Authors of the Day, Jeffrey Archer, and creator of Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, to form a truly stellar line-up. In addition Author HQ, which has become one of the busiest areas of the Fair, will continue to offer essential practical advice to aspirational and established authors. Taking place in London for the second time in its history, we are delighted to host the 31st International Publishers Congress, 9th to 12th April, in partnership with the International Publishers Association and the UK Publishers Association. The conference promises timely debate, analysis and networking at the most senior level across a comprehensive programme curated to address the key policy and practical issues of the day. Now in its third year, the LBF International Excellence Awards, run in association with the Publishers Association, is the only event that recognises achievement in global publishing. The winners will be announced on Tuesday night, where Baroness Rebuck will receive her Lifetime Achievement Award. And finally, if you have any time to spare in this great capital city, take a moment to check out the London Book & Screen Week programme taking place around London this week. It is the capital’s biggest ever celebration of books, and the films, television programmes and virtual worlds they’ve inspired. This seven-day, citywide, landmark event brings storytelling and the written word to life, uniting the capital’s avid readers, writers, and game, film and television fans with a whole host of events taking place right across literary London. Thank you for attending the London Book Fair! I wish you a warm welcome hope you enjoy your time here. Jacks Thomas is the Director of the London Book Fair. ■

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

CONFERENCE CENTRE

LEVEL 3

INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS CENTRE

LEVEL 2 CHILDREN’S & GENERAL TRADE GENERAL TRADE

WEST HALL UPPER (HALL 1)

GENERAL TRADE OLYMPIA CENTRAL (HALL 4)

ART, ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

REMAINDER & PROMOTIONAL / NEP ACADEMIC / STM / PROFESSIONAL / NEP

GAMING & GRAPHIC NOVELS

TECH

GRAND HALL GALLERY (HALL 2)

GENERAL TRADE

NATIONAL HALL GALLERY (HALL 3)

WEST HALL LOWER (HALL 5)

GALLERY & LEVEL 1

WEST ENTRANCE

GENERAL TRADE

GRAND HALL (HALL 6)

ACADEMIC / STM / PROFESSIONAL / EDUCATION PUBLISHING SOLUTIONS NATIONAL HALL (HALL 7)

NATIONAL HALL ENTRANCE

GRAND HALL ENTRANCE

GROUND 7

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

The London Book & Screen Week 11th–17th April All in your head–The power of your mind to create your story

The festival is a seven-day, citywide celebration of books and the films, TV programmes and virtual worlds they inspire. Produced by The London Book Fair, the festival merges a vibrant tent pole series of specially curated events, with an open sourced strand of activities that anyone can submit to. Director of The London Book Fair and London Book & Screen Week, Jacks Thomas, said: “400 years on from the death of William Shakespeare we are delighted to round out this year’s London Book & Screen Week programme with an event in his honour. The week offers an opportunity for everyone to celebrate their favourite books, films, TV shows, games and entertainment platforms. With a thrilling programme in place and partners all over the city rallying to celebrate a fabulous array of writers and their work, old and new, in all its formats, we’re looking ahead to what’s sure to be a blockbuster week. Come and join in!”

Cityreads 2016–The written word and revolt: giving a voice to the unheard Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, (6.30pm) This timely event brings together a panel of speakers to discuss the role of literature in exploring unheard voices in contemporary society. Panellists–Dr Lez Henry, Ben Judah, Hardeep Singh Kohli and Gillian Slovo, chaired by Kirsty Lang. Tickets £5

Monday 11 April

Tuesday 12 April

Polari Soho Special

Belgravia: bringing the Dickensian serial into the digital age

The Light Lounge, Soho (6pm) London’s award-winning LGBT literary salon goes back to its Soho roots with this special event for London Book & Screen Week. Cocktails and chat from 6pm. Readings from 7pm. Hosted by Paul Burston with readings from author Diana Souhami, playwright and actor Alexis Gregory, poet and spoken word performer Keith Jarrett and author and comedian VG Lee. Tickets £5

Second Home, 68-80 Hanbury Street (7pm) A conversation between neurologist and author Suzanne O’Sullivan and psychologist and writer Charles Fernyhough, chaired by BBC Click’s Bill Thompson Tickets £10

Berkley Ballroom, Belgravia (6pm) Julian Fellowes is author of several Sunday Times bestselling novels, screenwriter for the Oscar-winning Gosford Park and TheYoung Victoria, and creator, writer and executive producer of the multiple award-winning British television series Downton Abbey. He will be in conversation with Jessica Fellowes, author of the official Downton Abbey companion books, about his life and his new story Belgravia, released over

Friday 15 April

Growing Up With Bob Hoskins: Rosa Hoskins discusses her moving memoir Soho House, Dean St (5pm)

Remembering the times they shared together, join Rosa Hoskins in conversation with Larushka Ivan-Zadeh about her memoir, It’s All Going Wonderfully Well, a revealing portrait of one of the country’s best-loved actors, and a moving story of a close bond between father and daughter. For tickets and BookBrunch Subscriber 25% discount go to: https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/lbsw

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

11 weeks through an innovative new app. Tickets £30

Good Housekeeping presents… An evening with Marian Keyes

1 Wimpole Street, Marylebone (6:30pm) International bestselling author, Marian Keyes, joins Good Housekeeping in conversation on her latest collection of essays: Making it up as I go along. Tickets £25

Level Up: the power of digital storytelling

BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly (7pm) A discussion and celebration of digital storytelling in gaming led by a panel of renowned author-gamers, including academic and children’s author Gabrielle Kent, script writer Rhianna Pratchett, and journalist Leigh Alexander. Tickets £10

YA Salon: Ann M Martin

The Blacksmith and The Toffeemaker, St John Street (7pm) Ann M Martin, bestselling author of the much-loved BabySitters Club series, presents her most recent novel, How to Look for a Lost Dog, alongside ‘superfan’ author guests, Laura Dockrill and Holly Bourne, at the launch event of a new regular YA Salon aimed at adult readers ofYA books hosted by journalist Anna James. Bring your friends, come dressed in your 80s and 90s finest and hark back to the heyday of the Baby-Sitters Club with themed cocktails, trivia quizzes, book signings and more. Tickets £10 (including a 90’s themed cocktail)

Wednesday 13 April Shakespeare Special with Howard Jacobson and Henry Goodman

Covent Garden Hotel (5:30pm) An event in partnership with Digital Theatre to discuss one of Shakespeare’s best loved plays: The Merchant of Venice. Howard Jacobson recently reinterpreted the play for Hogarth’s Shakespeare Retellings series with Shylock is My Name and will be joined by British actor, Henry Goodman in a special event chaired by broadcaster and producer Fiona Lindsay . A copy of Shylock is My Name is included in the ticket price. The event will be available to view online at www.digitaltheareplus.com. Tickets £25

Thursday 14 April London’s Voices–Life in the global city

19 Princelet St, Spitalfields (7pm) An intimate evening at London’s Museum of Immigration at 19 Princelet St to spotlight the city’s breadth and depth of voice, featuring readings, performances, and talks from writers including Sathnam Sanghera, Nikesh Shukla, Ayisha Malik, and Amanda Paul. Tickets £15

Sketchbook Social

Café 1001, Brick Lane (7pm) Get your pencils at the ready and join us to sketch up a storm at Sketchbook Social! This special event for London Book and Screen Week is a night out with a twist: a fun, fast-paced

THE London Book Fair Preview

interactive evening of drawing and doodling. Our host for the evening is Children’s Laureate and Observer political cartoonist Chris Riddell, aka The Masked Doodler. Joining him are illustrators Vanna Vinci from Italy, Mike Medaglia who draws for The Huffington Post and The Elephant Journal, award-winning children’s illustrator and founder of the ‘Pictures Mean Business’ campaign Sarah McIntyre and Martial Toledano from Spain–as well as a few surprise guests.

Friday 15 April Growing Up With Bob Hoskins–Rosa Hoskins discusses her moving memoir Soho House, Dean St (5pm) Remembering the times they shared together; Rosa Hoskins is in conversation with Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, film editor at Metro, about her memoir, It’s All Going Wonderfully Well, a revealing portrait of one of the country’s best-loved actors, and a moving story of a close bond between father and daughter. This event will run in partnership with leading events and documentary production company, Fashion on Screen. Tickets £20

Saturday 16 April Cassandra Clare’s Lady Midnight tour launch

Leicester Square Theatre (11am) Cassandra Clare presents Lady Midnight, the first book in a new series set in the Shadowhunters world, The Dark Artifices. Cassandra will talk all things Shadowhunters, including the new Netflix series, with journalist Anna James, followed by the chance for fans to meet Cassandra in person, while enjoying body-art rune painting, mini makeovers and a Shadowhunter selfie scene. The event is in partnership with Waterstones and is screened live through Periscope by Maximum Pop! Books. SOLD OUT but look out for a chance to win tickets at www.londonbookandscreenweek.co.uk, plus the event will be streamed via Periscope in partnership with Maximum Pop! Books.

Sunday 17 April Picturehouse Hackney

270 Mare St (3pm) Special screening of Despite the Falling Snow, with Q&A Sit back and enjoy this breathtaking story of love and betrayal in Soviet Russia starring Charles Dance (Game of Thrones) and Rebecca Ferguson (Mission Impossible), with title song by Ella Henderson and score by Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman (Emma, Chocolate). The film will be followed an exclusive Q&A with Shamim Sarif, the author, scriptwriter and director of the film, and the executive producer Hanan Kattan, in conversation with Vanity Fair’s associate editor and London correspondent Bridget Arsenault, plus a special guest to be announced.

For more information on London Book and Screen Week and to order tickets and take advantage of the BookBrunch subscribers offer, go to: ■ www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/lbsw

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

The Publisher’s Association – 100 Days In Stephen Lotinga Approaching my 100th day at The Publishers Association offers an opportune moment to share my first impressions of the job and to set out some priorities for the future. In politics, where I’ve spent much of my working life, the 100-day milestone is often seen as a bellwether Stephen Lotinga for future success. The rationale being that at this point in an electoral cycle you are at your strongest and most able to get things done. In reality such pressure often leads to early mistakes as politicians rush around in a flurry of policy announcements designed to demonstrate activity rather than truly understanding what they are doing. With this in mind, and being new to publishing, I decided that my first few months could be best spent listening to my members and to as many people from across the industry as were prepared to put up with me. I wanted to find out how your businesses work; the pressures you face; what it is that people value most about the organisation; and what we could be doing better. After all, The PA belongs to our members and if we’re not responding to what they need most from their trade association then we will fail. Many people in the industry have already been enormously generous with their time and I will strive to meet with many more members in the coming weeks and months. What’s been slightly overwhelming so far has been the warmth of the welcome I’ve received and the sense of goodwill towards the future success of The PA. It’s made me realise just how much people who work in publishing care passionately about the success of the industry. What’s been clear in these initial conversations is that while many people are immensely proud of the industry they work in and how it has adapted to technological challenges, they acknowledge there is a lot more we can do to ensure it gets the recognition it deserves. It’s also been welcome to hear that The Publishers Association is still greatly valued by our members, which can only serve as a tribute to my predecessors and those who still work here.

As Chief Executive of The PA, my guiding principle will be to ensure that every single member, however large or small, knows at the end of the year that they’ve been getting value for money from their trade body. Having run a small business, I know the importance of ensuring that every single penny is spent wisely and contributes to the bottom line. While I believe we already add a lot of value to our members there is still much more we could be doing to provide the best service possible. There are three priorities in particular that I will be focussing on to ensure that this happens: Firstly, I have no doubt that the industry is at its strongest when it acts with one voice. The combination of academic, education and consumer publishers of all sizes speaking together is very powerful. The PA has played an important role in the past ensuring that the industry is heard in the halls of Westminster and Brussels. One of my main priorities will be to ensure that the voice of publishing continues to be heard loud and clear. At a time when economic growth is the number one political priority, it’s more important than ever that people understand the incredibly important contribution our industry makes to the economy both directly and indirectly. Secondly, I want us to refocus our efforts on the role we can play in providing insight to our members to help their businesses grow. Our expertise in understanding policy and market research, through to more practical business and legal advice, should help our members navigate an increasingly complex business environment. Finally, I want to take a hard look at the services we currently provide our members. I believe there continues to be a role for us in bringing businesses together to save money and pursue collectively beneficial activities, such as our work with the Copyright Infringement Portal. But we have to ensure that any services we provide keep pace with the membership we serve and their business models. I feel that there is a lot more that we can do to develop new services and reduce our reliance on membership fees. My desire as CEO of The PA is to ensure that the industry and by extension, The PA, continues to thrive. To achieve this we will need to ensure we are relevant to the future. This will involve some change but I have no doubt that it will be led by and for the benefit of all our members. Stephen Lotinga, CEO, The Publishers Association ■

“The industry is at its strongest when it acts with one voice. The combination of academic, education and consumer publishers of all sizes speaking together is very powerful.”

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

Crowdfunding: what are the options? David Montgomery of Ingenta (formerly Publishing Technology) describes five services that offer crowdfunding platforms to authors Crowdfunding–funding a project by raising contributions from supporters via online platforms–is a very common method to raise money for creative projects. It became popular in arts and music. The first instance of crowdfunding took place in 1997, when fans raised over $60,000, backing a US tour for British rock group Marillion. Today, there are many well-established crowdfunding platforms. The popular service Kickstarter has received more than $1.9 billion in pledges from 9.4 million backers, to fund over 257,000 creative projects since its inception in 2009–including books, films and music. Another alternative is Indiegogo. Founded in 2008, this was one of the first crowdfunding platforms. Over 15m people from all around the world visit the site on a monthly basis. But what about crowdfunding services that specialise in book publishing? What are the options for authors who are looking to fund their book? Here’s an overview of the most promising online platforms currently out there.

INKSHARES Inkshares edits, designs, prints, distributes, and markets books–all functions associated with traditional publishers. However, a book can only be published when it matches a predetermined number of reader preorders. The two year-old startup maximises the participation of existing users. It allows users to follow books and authors on its platform. In turn, authors can use this data to send their supporters updates on future projects. Further expanding on the concept, Inkshares uses its data to help authors find potential readers (and backers), either by looking at influential followers of similar books, or by exploring the new “Top Readers” function.

UNBOUND UK crowdfunding platform Unbound operates in a similar way to Kickstarter and Indiegogo: raising funds from interested readers by offering different levels of rewards in exchange for their support, but Unbound also takes care of publishing the book. Authors pitch their ideas, then Unbound allows users to check these out and pledge support, before the writing process has even started. Once the target number of pledges is met, the author starts writing. When the book is written, designed, edited and printed, users receive it either as an ebook or a limited edition hardback or paperback.

PUBLISHIZER

US service Publishizer is a system based proposals. To submit a book project, a user merely needs to submit the title and a short description of the work, along with a biography. Once the Publishizer team approves the project, a user can start receiving pre-orders, which are confirmed once the funding goal is reached. The website team send out helpful regular email updates and a full list of resources and best practices is also on offer. The service offers a concise way to present a book proposal online. Users can also add images and videos, resulting in an illustrated page with pre-order buttons. Publishizer wishes to create a platform that publishers could use to find new books but, until they take interest, it remains a challenge to create much traction.

PENTIAN Unlike other platforms, Spanish crowdfunding publisher Pentian offers royalties to reward supporters. To better include backers in the publishing process, the backers share royalties with the author, which helps encourage promotion beyond the initial investment. Another unique feature is a cap placed on the amount of money that can be raised, unlike Kickstarter campaigns, which can exceed the target amount. Like Inkshares, Pentian also provides services such as editorial and distribution. Last year, Pentian expanded their operations beyond Europe and into North America, promoting the service in multiple languages. Currently, they are 1,600 titles on the platform, with an average of 180 books registered a month.

PUBLAUNCH A brand-new service, PubLaunch will connect the various people involved in creating a book through one single process, solving a long-standing problem for selfpublishing. PubLaunch uses a step-by-step process to guide writers through each publication stage. The new undertaking will kick off in spring 2016 and will connect trusted industry professionals with writers while providing the crowdfunding services they need to get their projects published. While the features and interface of these crowdfunding platforms are generally quite intuitive, using the big two incumbents–Kickstarter and Indiegogo–tends to be more effective in simple fundraising. Kickstarter and Indiegogo allow for organic traffic thanks to the wide range of products they offer, while book-specific sites tend to preach only to a converted book loving audience.

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

About A Bard The London Book Fair Shakesperience Shakespeare is the most influential playwright and poet in history. His works have been played time and again around the globe, and studied by millions. This year marks 400 years since the bard’s death in 1616, and in honour of the occasion, London Book Fair has assembled the Shakesperience, a selection of Shakespearebased talks and activities for visitors to the Fair. The highlight is set to be Wednesday’s Author of the Day, Shakespeare himself, represented by the authors of Hogarth’s recent Tales from Shakespeare Tracy

Chevalier, Howard Jacobson and Jeanette Winterson. They will be joined by actor and author Ben Crystal, and the founder of Hip Hop Shakespeare, Akala. In addition, a mini, purpose-built ‘Globe’ performance space will feature authors and Shakespearian actors from around the world performing sonnets and extracts in eight languages during the three days of the Fair. For the trade, a Shakespeare Showcase will bring together Merchandisers, Publishers and Designers in a bespoke brand area, displaying everything from Shakespeare magnets to maps. Visitors to the Fair are invited to participate online, hashtaging their tweets and posts with #Shakesperience. London Book Fair has also teamed up with Booktrack to provide a digital edition of Romeo and Juliet with a synchronised ‘movie-style’ soundtrack. The book is available now from the London Book Fair website. ■

The Hogarth Shakespeare

Becky Hardie, Deputy Publishing Director, Chatto & Windus/Hogarth

Five years ago we had a Chatto & Windus ideas meeting. I’d recently joined from independent publishing and commissioning non-fiction series had been an important part of everyday life. At that meeting I suggested we should perhaps look at commissioning a series, but fiction this time. None of us had any idea what that might mean. We rejected lots of ideas: ghost stories, novellas, Bible stories, stories inspired by paintings… or pieces of music... Until one day our Senior Editor Juliet Brooke nailed it: novels based the plays of Shakespeare! It seemed so simple, so perfect, we couldn’t believe it hadn’t been done before. We’d just announced the launch of a new transatlantic fiction imprint, Hogarth, with our colleagues at Crown in the US and Chatto’s Publishing Director Clara Farmer immediately saw how the Hogarth Shakespeare could be the flagship project of that collaboration. When we discovered that there was a huge Shakespeare anniversary coming up in 2016, all the pieces fell neatly into place. In theory at least. We had to test that theory. Random House’s new Consumer Insight department did some research. A surprising (to us) number of committed, literary readers had read a Shakespeare play that year–1 in 5–and even more–3 in 10–intended to. These readers

were attracted to Shakespeare’s themes–‘It is hard to believe that one man can have so much understanding that is relevant today’, ‘His works illuminate the human experience in a timeless way’, ‘His works continue to be enjoyable and understandable because they are perceptive studies of human character’. But there were barriers: people found his plays difficult to read, thought they were better experienced live, they carried with them connotations of school. But this seemed to be good news for us. Surely this apparently tricky combination of aspiration–the intention to engage with Shakespeare–and difficulty could be perfectly addressed by a series of modern retellings? Armed with this information, it was time to find publishing partners. We started with a core of Random House (as it was then) colleagues: Molly Stern and Alexis Washam at Hogarth in the US, Louise Dennys at Knopf in Canada, Claudia Vidoni at Knaus Verlag in Germany and Silvia Querini at Lumen in Spain. These brave publishers committed to the series before we had a single author signed up. Today, the Hogarth Shakespeare is being published in 28 territories and in 22 languages (and counting). At this stage everything was still secret, known in-house as Project Shhhhh. When we started

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approaching authors, we got a lot of questions, and polite rejections. But when an author had a connection with a play and was taken with the whole idea of the series, the reaction was immediate. In June 2013 we announced the series, and Anne Tyler’s Taming of the Shrew and Jeanette Winterson’s The Winter’s Tale, to the world. The media response was great. But my favourite response appeared in the Guardian comments section–‘This is a shit idea.’ I kept those words pinned up on my board for months. Once the idea was out in the open things really started moving. The announcement of Howard Jacobson’s Merchant of Venice and Margaret Atwood’s The Tempest, followed by Tracy Chevalier’s Othello, Jo Nesbo’s Macbeth, Gillian Flynn’s Hamlet and Edward St Aubyn’s King Lear brought new waves of media interest and enquiries about rights from foreign publishers. At the London Book Fair in 2015 we announced our collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has enabled us to bring novelists and directors together while they explore the same plays. This autumn Margaret Atwood’s retelling of The Tempest coincides with the RSC’s ground-breaking new production, (produced in collaboration with Intel and in association with the Imaginarium Studios,) using today’s most advanced technology to reimagine the play. The series has even spawned its own series of ‘retellings’: the portraitist Ralph Heimans has re-imagined each author in a Shakespearean way. The paintings, including one of Gillian Flynn laid out on a carpet like Ophelia, are being exhibited at the Globe as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations. We didn’t have any idea what was in store when we started out on this idea. This was true even of the novels themselves. We gave no brief to the authors. They are free to do whatever they like with their chosen play. As we waited for the first books to arrive we struggled to control our nerves and excitement. As soon as they did, it all came together. Authors have told us they have had fun writing these books, responding with complete freedom to an existing story and structure. Which is of course exactly how Shakespeare himself worked. All the novels so far are completely different even though they are answering the same call. They are clearly and absolutely the work of each individual author, but underpinned by themes and concerns Shakespeare has made familiar to us over the course of 400 years. It’s a mix that readers, the publishing industry and the press are really responding to. And this is the biggest and proudest achievement of this whole impossibly complicated, sprawling, exhilarating literary endeavour. ■

THE London Book Fair Preview

All the world’s on stage at The London Book Fair LBF is hosting an array of celebrations during the Fair to mark Shakespeare 400. Authors of the Day on Wednesday 13 April – A Shakespeare celebration led by:

Tracy Chevalier

Howard Jacobson

Jeanette Winterson

A mini ‘Globe’ performance space will welcome authors and Shakespearian actors from around the world to perform sonnets and extracts in six languages.

Shakespeare will dominate LBF social media channels throughout Spring, with competitions & campaigns. #Shakesperience

The Shakespeare Showcase will bring together Merchandisers, Publishers and Designers in a bespoke brand showcase, displaying everything from Shakespeare magnets to maps. Be part of it at: www.londonbookfair.co.uk/ shakesperience

Part of:

In association with:

Sponsored by:

Research partner:

Gold Congress Sponsor:

QUANTUM: PUBLISHING & SO MUCH MORE This conference is the launch pad for The London Book Fair, providing delegates with an unmissable blend of informed debate, networking and research. It is also part of the 31st International Publishers Congress, held for the first time at LBF in 2016. INNOVATION, INSPIRATION AND INSIGHT

SPEAKERS

VARIED SESSIONS

STREAM CHOICES

HEAR FROM GLOBAL INNOVATORS

A TASTE OF WHAT YOU’LL LEARN •

How to partner with developers

•

What omnichannel selling means for publishing

•

What makes Non-Fiction and hobbyist publishing such a buoyant market

•

About Audio Publishing and why it’s the success story it is currently

•

What publishers need to know about Virtual Reality and how it might impinge on the book business

There’s much to learn, much to be excited about and much to emulate! Content Creators and Content Consumers are changing – as is publishing! Keep up by attending this all important conference.

KEY INFORMATION Date: Monday 11 April 2016 Time: 9am -5pm (Drinks reception 5pm - 6pm) Venue: Olympia, West London

Baroness Rebuck Penguin Random House

Roger Domingo Grupo Planeta

Clay Stobaugh Wiley, US

LBF: Quantum tickets entitle you to FREE entry into the Fair

+ Even more speakers from all around the globe

www.quantumconference.co.uk

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THE London Book Fair Preview

Nick Bostrom Monday, 11th April 2016 Nick Bostrom is Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University and founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute and of the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology within the Oxford Martin School. He is the author of some 200 publications. He previously taught at Yale, and he was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the British Academy. In addition to philosophy, Bostrom has a background in physics, computational neuroscience, and mathematical logic. He is Quantum Author of the Day on Monday 11 April, and will give a keynote talk at the Quantum Conference. In your book Superintelligence, you examined the threat posed by Artificial Intelligence. What has influenced your thinking on this subject? There was not a great deal of detailed analysis in the published literature when I started working on this. However, there was a small community of other researchers who were interested in thinking about these issues, including here at the Future of Humanity Institute. So the book has benefited tremendously from conversations with these people in real life and online. Could you outline your argument in brief here? The book is my attempt to think through all the issues that might arise as we move towards machine superintelligence. The first couple of chapters talk about how we get there–the rest focuses on what happens when we do, when machines do surpass humans. This is called the control problem. How can we create controls so that machine superintelligence will be beneficial to humanity as opposed to destroying us? A computer recently defeated a leading player at Go. Was that a significant advance in AI? I think AlphaGo is significant as a milestone. It dramatises the progress that has been made in machine learning over the last few years. AlphaGo is more interesting than either Deep Blue [the chess-playing computer] or Watson [questionanswering], because the algorithms it uses are potentially more general-purpose. It wouldn’t surprise me if, with very minor modification, the same approach will perform well on a wide variety of perfect information games. How far ahead might alarming developments in AI be? There is great uncertainty about the timescales, but nothing particularly disturbing seems plausible in the short term. The book mainly focuses on long-term outcomes, although that could still be within the

lifetimes of some people today. Looking at the issue more narrowly, how do you think AI will affect publishing and the creative industries? Certainly there are lowerlevel editorial tasks that AI should be able to do soon, and that includes an Nick Bostrom interesting application of a more advanced version of spell-checking, where the AI suggests changes in sentence structure as well the spelling. While I could see AI augmenting or replacing humans in visual arts, in writing it would be harder, as the process of writing decides what is to be written next. The current automated writing software is a very limited form of writing–basically putting data into sentences. ■

LBF is hosting an array of celebrations during the Fair to mark Shakespeare 400. Authors of the Day on Wednesday 13 April – A Shakespeare celebration led by:

Tracy Chevalier

Howard Jacobson

Jeanette Winterson

Shakespeare A mini ‘Globe’ Shakespeare will Showcase will performance space dominate LBF social media channels bring together will welcome authors throughout Spring, Merchandisers, and Shakespearian with competitions Publishers & Designers actors from around & campaigns. displaying everything the world to perform sonnets and extracts #Shakesperience from Shakespeare in six languages. magnets to maps.

Be part of it at: www.londonbookfair.co.uk/shakesperience

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

Research & Scholarly Publishing Forum Tuesday 12th April For the second year, and as part of the 2016 International Publishers Association Congress: Access All Areas, The Research & Scholarly Publishing Forum will examine the challenges and trends facing research communication, offering insights to the latest strategic and market developments. Taking place during the morning of Tuesday 12th April, the conference has been developed by The London Book Fair in collaboration with the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers and The Publishers Association, sponsored by the Copyright Clearance Centre (CCC). It will feature four talks and panels, co-chaired by Sally Hardy, Chief Executive at the Regional Studies Association, and Audrey McCulloch, Chief Executive at the Association of Learned & Professional Society Publishers.

The talks and panels are: • ‘Stamping the Open Access Passport: Policy news around the world’ chaired by Andrew Tein, Vice President of Global Public Affairs at Wiley. • Two keynote speakers, including Derk Hank from Springer. • ‘Move over humans, the machines want to learn’ chaired by Susie Winter, Director of Policy & Communications at the Publishers Association. • ‘Changing Times: global research trends and developments’ chaired by Stephen Barr, President at SAGE International. Tickets cost £150 plus VAT, with a £99 rate for ALPSP/ PA members and a £75 31st International Publishers Congress rate. The price includes a networking lunch and free entrance to the Fair. ■

Case Study: The future of eBooks in universities This year’s London Book Fair sees the fourth instalment of the What Works? Conference. Programmed by The International Publishers Association, powered by London Book Fair and held in association with The Publishers Association, it takes an open-minded look the place of technology in education. In honour of this, Blackwell’s Tim Kilmartin discusses their new pilot schemes for eBooks in universities: “This Spring semester, Blackwell’s have partnered with the University of Liverpool in a pilot scheme to provide students with their own core textbooks in digital format. Most excitingly, we are piloting our data analytics as part of this scheme. Our eBook platform, Blackwell Learning, was built in-house by our developers, and therefore we have been able to capture data and build analytic reports exactly as required and envisioned by university staff. Interpretation of this data into a backdrop of “Blackwellian” values–a love of books and reading–will prove to be unique and compelling. “We have a specific standpoint when it comes to reading digitally and the use of data analytics for innovation. That standpoint is that the practice of “deep reading”–immersive, focussed concentration on a text–not be compromised by digital innovations, but supported by them. Studying successfully for a degree means to read actively in a linear manner, but reading online often lends itself to the opposite behaviour,

creating a meandering journey through a tangled landscape of unqualified content. This can often lead the average first year undergraduate to become confused, overwhelmed and disorganised in their study. “We believe in preserving the book as a book–a single work intended to be digested from beginning to end–so that whatever intellectual journey its author intended for its audience, be that the laying down of a subject’s fundamentals in an order that makes sense, or the layering of knowledge in chronological order, is achieved to the benefit of the reader and undertaken fully, as a whole, rather than broken, decontextualized, or sampled at the edges. It’s important for us, and our partner universities, that our future innovations support this type of reading rather than distract from it or interrupt it, and that any personalisation of the reading experience that are a result of data analytics be driven by human input, rather than computer algorithms. “Our digital innovations won’t take the reader away from the act of reading, but will enhance and support it for true pedagogical benefit. It’s hugely gratifying to watch our data expand as Liverpool University’s students adopt our platform for daily study, and we fully believe that the resultant innovations will drive a love of books and reading.” ■

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

What Works? Education Conference Tuesday 12th April This year marks the fourth instalment of the What Works? Conference. Programmed by The International Publishers Association, powered by London Book Fair and held in association with The Publishers Association, it provides an open-minded look at educational outcomes, good practice and the place of technology in learning. Taking place throughout the day on Tuesday 12th April, the What Works? Conference consists of five sessions of talks and panels with breaks, lunch and a networking reception between. Speakers include: • Francesco Avvisati, OECD • Laurie Forcier, Pearson • Eric Razenburg, CEO Thieme Mueller • Mauricio Andion, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana • Lord Jim Knight, Times Education

• • • • •

Michael Ross, Encyclopaedia Britannica Eckhardt Fuchs, Georg Eckert Institute Fredric Litto, Universidade de Sao Paulo Job Vos, CEO Kennisnet Foundation Jay Diskey, PreK-12 Learning Group at Association of American Publishers

“I’m delighted that we’ve managed to attract such a strong line-up of speakers for ‘What Works’,” said Simon Juden, Programme Coordinator at the International Publishers Association. “Over the day policy makers, publishers and teachers will be looking at what the evidence tells us about educational resources and learning outcomes around the world, and how we can all work together in changing circumstances to ensure the right quality of materials is available within schools.” The ticket price is £299 plus VAT and includes free entry to the Fair. ■

BRING YOUR BOOKS TO LIFE Find out more on Stand 6D101

#NielsenB2L www.nielsenbookdata.co.uk

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20/03/2015 19:45

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Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

Meet the Inaugural Trailblazer Award Winners This year has seen the inaugural Trailblazers Awards for twenty-something publishing stars. Run by the Society of Young Publishers (SYP) in partnership with the London Book Fair, and with BookBrunch as the media sponsors, the awards aim to reward and highlight publishing professionals in their twenties who have made an outstanding contribution to the industry. The winners were announced in February at a packed ceremony in Covent Garden. Each of them will be interviewed in our upcoming London Book Fair Dailies, but for now, here’s a little bit about why they were each nominated:

All the winners with the judges

The awards were judged by London Book Fair’s Director Jacks Thomas, BookBrunch’s Commercial Director Tobias Steed and Joint Editor Neill Denny, ex-SYP Chair Anna Cunnane, John Athanasiou, Director of People at Harpercollins and Seonaid MacLeod, Campaigns Manager of The Ella Kahn & Bryony Woods, Diamond Kahn & Woods Publisher’s Association. “It was very astonishing Literary Agency because, having “They established their own literary seen the shortlist, agency, Diamond Woods & Kahn, in 2012. I don’t think George Burgess After three successful years in the either of us business, they have expanded expected it,” said Kahn of her joint win with significantly, taking on a third agent, Woods. “I’m completely thrilled and very signing thirty-six clients, and selling over relieved we were awarded it jointly, thirty titles to major publishers.” because we couldn’t have done any of what we’ve achieved alone.” George Burgess, Gojimo This year’s Trailblazer winners were “Burgess founded Gojimo when he was selected from a 38-strong shortlist and 17. He has since raised over $3m in picked up their awards at a ceremony at the funding, won Digital Achiever of the Year Bryony Woods Covent Garden Hotel in central London. at Futurebook and established Gojimo as Each winner will also receive a package the UK’s leading revision app, used by 1 including: free entry to LBF; in 5 students.” a five minute interview to be Nick Coveney, Kings Road hosted on the Fair website, with other interviews to be Publishing “From Hodder, Hachette published in BookBrunch Children’s, and most and the SYP magazine recently Bonnier Publishing, InPrint; an LBF website page; Nick has been a entrance to The Club at the leading industry innovator Ivy during the Fair; invitation creating award-winnning to dedicated networking and bestselling digital drinks and a free annual Nick Coveney BookBrunch subscription. ■ Ella Kahn experiences.” Clio Cornish, HarperCollins “With a gift for finding and developing editorial voices, Cornish embraces Clio Cornish every challenge thrown at her and adds new ones too. Her creativity is boundless, her attention to detail impeccable and her attitude unrivalled.”

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

LBF Lifetime Achievement Award Gail Rebuck Baroness Rebuck will be presented with the prestigious London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fair on 12 April. According to an LBF statement: ‘Gail Rebuck is a towering figure of British and international publishing, who has contributed much to the industry both as a business leader and through her passionate support for reading and literacy. As Chair and Chief Executive of Random House UK for over 20 years, Gail Rebuck built a formidable international publishing house with a hugely influential and successful author list. Together, authors published by Random House have included numerous international and UK bestsellers and have been awarded 32 Nobel Prizes, 18 Booker Prizes and more than 100 Pulitzer Prizes. Gail Rebuck remains an influential figure within the publishing industry, as Chair of Penguin Random House UK, and she also provides an important voice speaking on behalf of arts, culture and education in the House of Lords, since she joined in 2014. She has been a driving force and tireless ambassador behind many of the most influential reading and book campaigns in the UK; from foundation of World Book Day Charity in 1998, as Chair of Quick Reads adult literacy, to helping create Books Are My Bag, the recent campaign to promote bookshops.’ Baroness Rebuck said: “I am so thrilled to receive this award, which is such an honour as it comes from the industry I have loved for nearly 40 years. I humbly follow in the footsteps of many friends and colleagues, including inspirational publisher Sonny Mehta and much missed agent Deborah Rogers. “Being a publisher has never simply been a job for me but a passionate vocation. It has been a privilege to work with many of the most talented publishing teams in the industry and there can be no job in the world to match the excitement of being one of the first to read a great author’s new work, discover a new voice or be stimulated by a new idea. Curiosity and a love of books drive everyone in this industry. It is all about the authors. “This year the LBF have put story-telling at the heart of their activities and, as publishers, we need to continue to campaign for the importance and creativity of telling stories but also for 100% literacy to ensure that the truly transformative power of books is available to all.” The award was acclaimed across the industry. Ed Victor said: “In American football, a player who can run, pass and kick is known as a “Triple Threat”. Gail Rebuck is a Triple Threat in publishing terms because she can edit, publish and manage–all with consummate skill and grace. Such a well-deserved award!” BA chief executive Tim Godfray said: “The Lifetime Achievement Award is richly deserved. Gail is

unbelievably busy, and yet she still gives her time to industry initiatives that promote books and encourage reading, like Books Are My Bag and Quick Reads”. Robert Harris said: “Gail is a unique combination: she has helped shape British publishing at the Gail Rebuck highest level for almost a quarter of a century, yet has never lost her passionate enthusiasm for individual books, or ceased to care about her authors. Over the years, many of us have become her good friends, and I am proud and delighted to salute her on behalf of all the writers she has published so brilliantly.” David Roche, Non-Executive Chair of The London Book Fair Advisory Group and Chair of the BookBrunch Advisory Board, said: “Gail Rebuck is a once-in-ageneration publishing giant–a force of nature who has driven herself, her publishing companies and her authors to enormous global success. With her involvement in World Book Day, Quick Reads and the National Literacy Trust, Gail has always been a passionate leader and advocate for literacy for all. I am delighted that London Book Fair can recognise the breadth and distinction of her contribution with this Lifetime Achievement Award.” The London Book Fair’s Advisory Board voted for Rebuck from a shortlist of international publishing figures. The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises an individual who has made a significant mark in the sphere of global publishing. Last year the award was presented to Peter Usborne and previous recipients include Deborah Rogers of Rogers, Coleridge & White, Sonny Mehta of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., Lord Weidenfeld, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Christopher MacLehose, now of MacLehose Press, John Lyon of Little, Brown (posthumously), Lynette Owen of Pearson Education, Peter Mayer of The Overlook Press/Duckworth Publishers, Drenka Willen, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Antoine Gallimard, Éditions Gallimard, Jorge Herralde of Editorial Anagrama and Michael Krüger of Hanser Verlag. This article first appeared in BookBrunch on 9th March 2016. Nicholas Clee, BookBrunch Joint Editor will be profiling Baroness Rebuck in the London Book Fair Show Dailies. Baroness Rebuck will be delivering the Keynote address at the Quantum Conference on Monday 11th April. ■

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

Travel Publishing at the crossroads? Stephen Mesquita An idea

Ten years ago, I had an idea. Would it be possible, using Nielsen BookScan data, to create a forensic analysis of the market to help travel publishers achieve an even greater depth of understanding of their market? From my own experience of working in travel publishing, I appreciated two things. First, I never had enough time to realise the full potential of the Nielsen data. I knew what it was capable of but never used it to its full capabilities. And, as a publisher who had always worked in the international market, I could really have benefitted from a global view of the market. And so, in 2006, the first Nielsen BookScan Travel Publishing Year Book was published. The first edition ran to 96 A5 pages and covered only the UK market. A year later, the second edition expanded the coverage to USA, Australia, Ireland and South Africa.

Core Travel and non-Core Travel The 10th edition was published in February. It runs to 400 pages and covers 10 markets. Part of its value to travel publishers is that I have expanded and refined the existing Nielsen categories in travel publishing to achieve that forensic analysis and add value to the data. Here’s how it works. The UK Travel Publishing Year Book divides the market into two sectors, Core Travel and non-Core Travel. Core Travel consists of two categories: Guides and Maps. Within these there are seven categories of guides and eight categories of maps. It’s not just the more defined categories which make the Year Book useful to travel publishers. Most of the 60,000 UK titles are also coded by destination, so that travel publishers can see which guides and maps to which destinations are winners or losers. The most important categories to understand are World Travel Guides (consisting of the major international travel guide series, covering all destinations including UK); and UK Guides (the UK destination and attraction guides which are not part of an international series). Non-Core are those categories which are often found in or near the travel sections of most bookshops: subjects such as Travel Writing, People and Places (armchair travel), Phrasebooks, Local History and even Driving Test Theory books.

That’s the preamble. Now down to business.

2015–A better year 2015 was the best year in travel publishing in the last ten years. Sales across all the Year Book’s categories, Core and Non-Core, were up by 6.04%. Sales of Core Travel Guides were up by 2.26%. Only maps fell back, registering a fall of 3.34%. Before we get too carried away, we need to put this in the context of what has happened to the whole sector since 2005. Over the past 11 years, sales across the Core Travel sector have declined by 39.91% (40.14%) with guides declining by 38.89% (40.17%) and maps by 42.08% (40.09%). The figures in brackets are the equivalent from last year. This is to give the optimistic message that the sales have clawed back a tiny fraction of the overall losses in 2015. Of course, it’s great news. There has been a recovery in the headline figures in 2015. But, if you can stay with me through what follows, I will show you that the recovery has not spread consistently across all categories or across all publishers–and that it is only by one measure.

2015–Some facts. The headline analysis should be “Guides Up, Maps Down”. But here are a couple of thoughts to complicate matters. The sales of international guides and maps had a better year than the sales of UK Guides and maps. Look at the Winners and Losers graph for guides and you’ll see that sales of UK Guides were down by 10.84%,

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compared with +4.45% for World Travel Guides. Even within the international series, guides to UK destinations were down 2.40%. Sales of Road Atlases of Britain were down 5.25%. Sales of Road Maps were up by 3.24% but maps to Britain within this category were down by 1.29%. The UK Walks market bucked this trend (+5.31%for Walks Guides and +0.77% for UK Walks Maps) but even here the (much smaller) overseas categories of both outperformed the UK. UK Where to Stay/Where to Eat Guides were down 5.13% in a category which was down overall by just 1.67%. So the 2015 message is clear: it was a better year for International Guides and Maps than for UK ones. World Travel Guides is by far the largest category in Core Travel–and it was up by 4.45% to £28.96m, the biggest rise in the 10 editions of the Year Book and the second successive increase. But, even in better times, this is not an easy business to manage. In 2015 political and economic factors increased the volatility of

THE London Book Fair Preview

destination choice for international travels. Put simply, travellers look for places to go which are safe and good value for money. As a very crude measure, the average increase of the Top 50 ‘Winner’ Destinations rose from 25% to 50%. Hurrah, you may say–but then you have to keep the books in print. The average fall in the 50 ‘Loser’ destinations fell from 25% to 18%. Hurrah, you may say– until you look at the fall in some key destinations (Paris -16%, for example). Then you have too much stock. Not easy, this Travel Publishing game. So it was a better year–but not for everyone.

Thank you, Bill Bryson! And, over in the world of Non-Core Travel Publishing, we have Bill Bryson to thank for much of the increase. The 65% increase in Travel Writing would have been just 15%, if it wasn’t for the £3.83m increase in Bill Bryson’s sales in 2015. In fact, The Road to Little Dribbling contributed 4.65% of the 6.04% rise in All Travel which we are celebrating in 2015. Without this, our whole sector would have been recording an increase of just 1.39% So thanks, Bill. This article will be continued on Tuesday 12th April in the BookBrunch/ Publishers Weekly London Book Fair Show Daily. For further information about the 2016 Nielsen BookScan Travel Publishing Year Book, contact stephen. mesquita@gmail.com ■

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

The Circular Issue of a Limited Workforce

NIELSEN PUBTRACK DIGITAL To make informed decisions you need to see the relevant information. Contact us today – Find out how Nielsen PubTrack Digital can help your publishing, sales and marketing decisions – e: salesbookresearch@nielsen.com www.nielsenbook.co.uk

By Seoniad MacLeod It is no secret that publishing has an issue with representation. At first glance, it can seem like there are so many issues to be tackled, there’s little point in even starting: representation in the books we publish, authors we work with, offices we work in, and bookshops we sell to, can be limited. In some sense, there remains a traditional view of what our readership looks like and what kind of books they will buy, but this view increasingly seems safe and narrow. The Publishers Association (in association with the IPG and EQUIP) has been looking into ways to improve the publishing landscape–we’re aware we are not experts in the equal representation field, but we do have access to a wide range of publishers, organisations, and passionate individuals, all committed to improving the diversity of the industry as a whole. One thing that we’ve come to realise is how inextricably linked each issue mentioned above is with the next: if authors aren’t submitting books to agents because they don’t feel welcome in traditional publishing industries, agents cannot submit these books to publishers. If booksellers are unaware of books from a certain culture, they cannot sell them. If publishers don’t open up their workforce to the broadest range of talent, how can they know how to sell to under-represented demographics? The diversity issue goes wider than these inter-locking circles. With the best will in the world, it can feel frustrating to have an ‘open’ recruitment process, only to end up with the same old CVs through the door. Stating on job descriptions that you actively welcome applications from BAME / first-generation graduates is a fantastic start, but without explaining to people what the publishing industry is, what jobs are available, and emphasizing that the industry is open to ALL, we simply won’t get the manuscripts, applicants or readers we want and need. As part of The PA’s work to change the face of publishing, we’ve been going into schools and universities to encourage young people to consider publishing as a career, and become game-changers themselves. We’re also working with charities such as First Story, London Book Fair’s Charity of theYear this year, to further open the industry up to those who might think it’s not for them, who didn’t grow up surrounded by books with a relative in the industry. We need people with publishing in their blood; we also need people with a fresh take on the industry, who love books and content and want to get them into the hands of a range of readers. There are many organisations and individuals working towards improving diversity in the industry; we’ll be talking to some of them at London Book Fair about Diversifying the Industry to continue this conversation and find out where publishers can turn to improve their representation. ■

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

Case Study: The Poetry Publisher

Poetry Pavilion Prize at LBF

This year, the London Book Fair welcomes back The Poetry Pavilion, a space for poetry performance and discussion through a series of events curated by Inpress in collaboration with The London Book Fair. The stand was remarkably successful in 2015, with more than 800 visitors, a number set to increase in 2016. A growing interest in the genre has seen come back in poetry publishing across the UK. Here, Richard Skinner describes his experiences in the field and his own small press, Vanguard Editions. “Vanguard Editions emerged from the monthly reading series I run called Vanguard Readings, which includes as many poetry-only events per year as I can manage. Once Vanguard was firmly established as a fixture in London’s literary scene, I wanted to encapsulate its spirit in print and so, in October 2014, I set up a Vanguard Editions. Our inaugural publication was #1Poetryanthology, a showcase of work by more than 40 poets, all of who had read at Vanguard. The anthology includes 12 competition-winning poems, but I wanted to ensure that it also reflected the ethos of Vanguard Readings, so I made room to include work by five previously unpublished poets too. “The next logical move was to start publishing single collections and my chance came when I bumped into Marion Tracy at the 2015 Poetry Fair, who asked if Vanguard Editions would be interested in publishing her debut collection. I first came across Marion’s work at the 2012 Poetry Fair and was immediately blown away. It took me 2 seconds to realise that Marion’s work and Vanguard Editions were the perfect match and have since published her debut, ‘Dreaming of Our Better Selves’. It’s a scary moment for her and myself, but also an exhilarating one and I know the the poetry community will welcome us with open arms. “There is a tremendous sense of community amongst the current UK poetry scene with many individual movers and shakers, such as Jo Bell with her legendary ‘52’ poetry project, Helena Nelson and Jane Commane. You tend to see the same audience at both the TS Eliot Prize readings and the annual Poetry Fair, which is much more rare in other arts. “In all my 50 years, I’ve never known a better time to write or read poetry. The largest poetry presses–Faber, Cape, Picador–are producing excellent books but, for me, the most interesting works are coming out of the smaller presses, such as Smokestack, HappenStance, Flarestack, Rack and Nine Arches. Although Faber have entered the arena with their excellent Faber New Poets series, these small presses, often one-person operations, take risks that the bigger boys can only dream of. They are run for love, not money, and the feelings of solidarity and goodwill for them among the poetry community runs very deep.” ■

Inpress is again calling for entries for the Inpress London Book Fair Poetry Pavilion Prize. The theme this year is “internationalism”, and the judge is Amy Wack, poet and Poetry Editor at Seren Books. Anyone who works in the international book industry is eligible, as is anyone attending or working at the London Book Fair as an exhibitor, visitor, student, stand builder, caterer, designer, cloakroom attendant, author, or speaker. The closing time for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 13 April, and the winning entrant and runner-up will be announced, and their poems performed, in the Poetry Pavilion at 2.30pm on Thursday 14 April. Entries by email to PoetryPavilion@inpressbooks.co.uk, or on paper at the Poetry Pavilion at Olympia. The winner will receive a £50 book token and “a bottle of something sparkling”. There will be a £30 book token and a bottle for the runner-up. Enquiries to Sophie O’Neill: Sophie@inpressbooks.co.uk, 07545 816483. ■

Last year’s Inpress London Book Fair Poetry Prize Winners Sonnet on the subject of London Directory by Richard O’Brien

Hammersmith & Fulham swaddled in woollens Elephant & Castle passed like a parcel Barking & Dagenham what do you say I am Blendon & Penhill marked on the ankle Chalfont & Latimer captured on camera Tolworth & Hook Rise young under grey skies Penge & Cator rising like vapour Goring & Streatley lost completely Falconwood & Welling late summer wedding Kensington & Chelsea may you be healthy St Katharine’s & Wapping nobody stopping Oranges & Lemons call me to penance Highbury & Islington make me the only one Harrow & Wealdstone never go home

Haiku on the Subject of “A Book” or “Books By David Oprava book–you mockingbird I’ve married/ a wandering seed in paper wings

A nonnet on the subject of Fair or Fairs By Abbie Headon The Book Fair Ingredients to make a book fair: Train and tube and bus and taxi Posters, spinners, catalogues Meetings, meetings, meetings Sporadic wifi Cappuccinos Aching feet Loo queues Booze!

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

Authors of the Day Nick Bostrom, Judith Kerr, Marian Keyes, Tracy Chevalier, Jeanette Winterson, Howard Jacobsen and William Shakespeare Nick Bostrom, Judith Kerr and Marianne Keyes are to top this year’s Authors of the Day, but the real star is arguably Shakespeare, with Tracy Chevalier, Jeanette Winterson and Howard Jacobsen stepping up to represent the bard. Kicking off the programme early, Nick Bostrom will be Monday’s Quantum Conference Author of the Day. With some 200 publications to his Judith Kerr name, New York Times’ bestselling author Bostrom is one for asking big questions, in keeping with the conference’s themes: What should we do, as individuals and as a species, to optimize our longterm prospects? Will humanity’s technological advancements ultimately destroy us? A Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy at Oxford University, founding Director of the Future of Humanity Institute, and often described as ‘one of the greatest thinkers of our time’, he is more than qualified to answer.

As the Fair gets going in earnest, Tuesday will star Marian Keyes, one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. A global number one bestseller, she has written 12 novels, been translated into 36 languages, and sold over 33 million copies worldwide. Storming into print in Tracy Chevalier 1995 with Watermelon, Keyes has dominated and redefined women’s literature and popular non-fiction ever since. Her latest collection of essays, Making It Up As I Go, is published on 11 February 2016 by Michael Joseph. The fair’s 45th year sees a departure from tradition, as Wednesday will be dedicated to William Shakespeare to mark the 400th anniversary of his death. Tracy Chevalier, Howard Jacobsen and Jeanette Winterson OBE team up to talk about his life, works and legacy. All three authors are appearing as part of their involvement in the Hogarth retelling Shakespeare series. Best known for the international bestseller Girl With A Pearl Earring, Chevalier has now taken on Othello for a to-be-named title due June 2017. After a lifelong interest in Shakespeare’s work, including the publication of his first book Shakespeare’s Magnanimity, Jacobsen will tackle The Merchant of Venice in Shylock Is My Name due out Christmas 2016. Author of 10 novels and regular Guardian contributer Winterson has retold The Winter’s Tale in The Gap of Time, published in hardback late last year. Using their research and passion as a base, the three bestselling authors will celebrate Shakespeare in all his glory. Finally, Judith Kerr OBE will feature on Thursday. Her first publication was her autobiographical trilogy Out of the Hitler Time, about her young life travelling through France and Switzerland in escape of the Nazis. She worked at the BBC before turning her attention to children’s books, writing The Tiger Who Came To Tea and creating Mog the cat. Kerr received an OBE for services to literature and Holocaust education in 2012,

photo:

Keke Keukelaar

“From page to screen, this year’s Authors of the Day boast versatility and immense talent, which we look forward to giving to a global stage.”

Howard Jacobson

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

Jeanette Winterson

Marian Keyes

photo:

Dean Chalkley

and celebrated her 90th birthday in June 2013 with the publication Judith Kerr’s Creatures published by Harper Collins. In December 2015 Mog’s Christmas Calamity was published in association with Sainsburys, raising over £1million for Save the Children’s literacy campaign. On the week of publication, it was the fastest selling

book in the industry reaching No. 1 in the overall book charts for four weeks, making it the bestselling picture book of 2015. First introduced in 2006, Author of the Day has become a key element of the fair, celebrating the authors’ work and spotlighting its impact. “From page to Nick Bostrom screen, this year’s Authors of the Day–Professor Nick Bostrom, Judith Kerr, and Marian Keyes–boast versatility and immense talent, which we look forward to giving a global stage,” said Jacks Thomas, Director of the London Book Fair. “With this year’s Fair coming on the eve of the 400 year anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we couldn’t resist merging past and present, with the man himself as one such honouree. We’re thrilled to have Tracy Chevalier, Howard Jacobson and Jeanette Winterson joining us in this unique celebration–three fantastic authors for one, if you will.” ■

IPG Publisher of the Year Nosy Crow This year’s IPG Fox Williams Independent Publisher of the Year Award went to children’s publisher, Nosy Crow in their third win, and fifth shortlisting. “It’s been as unexpected as it’s been fantastically gratifying,” said managing director Kate Wilson. “The competition’s been seriously tough each time, and to be awarded the prize against competitors we admire and respect so much has been the most amazing validation of everything we’ve done and are trying to do.” Nosy Crow’s success is perhaps partly down to their size. “I don’t have anything against corporate publishing” explains Wilson, “but we’re not a corporate company, so we have to make the most of the advantages of our scale and independence: an ability to act speedily, be flexible, and maintain personal relationships with our authors, illustrators, suppliers

and customers.” Though, she admits, Nosy Crow is no longer as small as it once was. Their independence also allows for a strong brand to shine through, something the IPG praised. “I think that the strength of the brand is about being clear about what we do–creating child-focussed, parent-friendly reading experiences, whether in print or digitally,” says Wilson, referencing their famous apps and hinting at what might lie ahead. “Working on apps has already led us in other directions. It was spending so much time in recording studios, and learning about voice audio, that gave me the idea for our free streamed audio initiative, Stories Aloud!” That’s the thing about Nosy Crow, you never know where they’re going to go next: but you can be sure they’ll be amongst the leaders. ■

The London Book Fair Preview

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

London Book Fair Literary Walk • At the T-junction, take a right onto Campden Grove to see the house of James Joyce at 28, then turn around and walk back down the road in the opposite direction.

There’s no doubt that London is a very literary city, but the wealth of authors who have lived and written around Olympia really is extraordinary. Here is a literary walk that takes in just a few of the landmarks, which are identified by blue plaques located on the houses. On average, it takes just over an hour, and crosses Holland Park–perfect for when you need a bit of headspace! •

Carry on straight, then take a right onto Warwick Gardens (A3220). 11 Warwick Gardens is your first stop, home of the writer and critic Gilbert Chesterton (1874-1936).

•

Continue south on Warwick Gardens, then take the first left onto Pembroke Gardens.

•

At the T-junction, turn left into Edwardes Square and immediately take a right. On this side of the square, at 1 Pembroke Cottages, writer Sir William Rothstein lived from 1899-1902.

•

Take a right, continuing around Edwardes Square in an anticlockwise direction. Pass the houses of Italian poet Ugo Foscolo at

•

19 and author Goldworthy Lowes Dickinson at 11.

•

Branching off the main square, continue straight on, until you reach Kensington High Street. Take a right, then take the second left, onto Phillimore Gardens. Continue straight on, then take a right onto Phillimore Place, where author of The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame, lived at number 16 between 1901-1908.

•

At the T-junction, take a left onto Argyll Road, than a right onto Upper Phillimore Gardens.

•

Continue straight on, as Upper Phillimore Gardens turns into Holland Street. 37 Holland Street was the home of novelist and poet, Radclyffe Hall, from 1924-1929.

•

• Continue to the T-junction, then take a right onto Campden Hill Road, where Ford Maddox Ford lived at number 80.

Exit London Olympia via the Hammersmith Road exit, turn right and walk north-east along Hammersmith Road.

•

• At the T-junction at the end of Campden Grove, turn right into Horton Street, then immediately left onto Observatory Gardens.

If you have time for a detour, continue down Holland Street, turning right onto Kensington Church Walk, where poet Ezra Pound lived at number 10 during the lead up to World War I. Once you are finished, backtrack to where you were on Holland Street. From Holland Street, turn into Gordon Place, and continue straight along the road, doing a little wiggle around Pitt Street.

• Continuing along Campden Hill Road, take a right onto Tor gardens. At the T-junction, turn left into Horton Street. At the end of the road, take another left onto Sheffield Terrace, where Dame Agatha Christie lived at 58. •

Continue to the end of the road, then take a right back on to Campden Hill Road. Carry straight on, then take a left onto Aubrey Walk.

• Turn right onto Hillsleigh Road, then the first left onto Campden Hill Square. Novelist Morgan Charles lived at 16 and Siegfried Sassoon at 23. • Continue straight along the south side of Campden Hill Square, branching off from the square proper, until you come to a T-junction. Take a right onto Aubrey Road and continue until you hit Holland Park Avenue. •

Take a left onto Holland Park Avenue, then almost immediately another left onto Holland Walk. • Continue along Holland Walk to the park, then cross it diagonally, exiting onto Abbotsbury Road. • Take a left on Abbotsbury Road and continue to the T-junction, then take a right onto Melbury Road. • Continue straight on, as Melbury Road becomes Napier Road, then Fairfax Place, and finally take a right onto Russell Road. •

Continue on Russell Road to theT-junction,

• then take a right onto Kensington High Street, and continue straight on until you are back at London Olympia! BookBrunch has created a route for this walk on the WalkIt app: London Book Fair Literary Walk and can also be found here: Here is the Walkit link: walkit.com/themed-walk/london/other/ ■ BookBrunch/london-book-fair-literary-walk/

Tuesday 12th–Thursday 14th April 2016

THE London Book Fair Preview

Local Restaurants

There are of course plenty of places to eat within or right next to Olympia, among them various sandwich bars and a Pizza Express. If you’d like to step outside the venue for a meal, here are some well-regarded local restaurants. The Hand and Flower

The Belvedere

1 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8XJ

Holland Park, Abbotsbury Rd, London W8 6LU

Tel 020 7371 4105 Email: handandflower@fullers.co.uk

Tel 020 7602 1238 Email: Sales@whitestarline.org.uk

http://www.handandflower.co.uk/

http://www.belvedererestaurant.co.uk/Home.html

“Never had a bad meal there,” one Trip Advisor reviewer writes of

Modern European dining in a 17th-century summer ballroom in

this pub. About £15 a head.

Holland Park. Main courses include bouillabaisse (£22.95), assiette

Karma 44 Blythe Road, West Kensington, London W14 0HA

of pork (cheek, belly, fillet) with pomme puree (£22.95), and aubergine parmigiana (£16.95).

Tel 020 7602 9333

HEREFORD ROAD

http://karma-westkensington.co.uk/

3 Hereford Road, Westbourne Grove, London W2 4AB

Menu includes dishes from all round India, including the south.

Tel 020 7727 1144 Email: info@herefordroad.org

Main courses at about £10.

www.herefordroad.org

Pentolina

Notting Hill restaurant with an open kitchen. There is a set lunch menu, offering two courses for £13.50 or three courses for £15.50.

71 Blythe Road, London W14 0HP

Starters include beetroot, buttermilk and wild garlic; soft herring

Tel 020 3010 0091

roes on toast; and crispy pork, chicory and mustard. Mains, lamb,

http://www.pentolinarestaurant.co.uk/

green beans and mint salad; grilled mackerel fillet, cucumber and

“Classic Italian home cooking”,in a cosy setting. Main courses, including

kohlrabi; lentils, mushrooms and wild garlic.

vegetarian, pasta, fish and meat dishes, from £12.50 to £19.50.

Society

KENSINGTON PLACE 201 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LX

Hilton London Olympia, 380 Kensington High Street W14 8NL

Tel 020 7727 3184

Tel 020 7603 3333 Email: reservations.olympia@hilton.com

www.kensingtonplace-restaurant.co.uk

http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/united-kingdom/hilton-london-

Book through the website.

olympia-LHROLHN/dining/society-restaurant.html

A well-established favourite in Notting Hill. Seafood is a speciality,

British cuisine, at about £30 a head. Main courses include roasted

with favourites including prawn cocktail (£9) and fish pie (£14.50).

butternut squash and ricotta wellington, sea bream with baby vegetables, pearl barley and a saffron broth, and fillet of chicken

THE CUMBERLAND ARMS

with mash potato and sautéed spinach.

29 North End Road, London W148SZ

Cibo

Tel 020 7371 6806 Email: thecumberlandarmspub@btconnect.com http://thecumberlandarmspub.co.uk

3 Russell Gardens, London W14 8EZ

Classic gastro-pub at about £15 a head serving “Mediterranean

Tel 020 7371 2085 Email: ciborestaurant@aol.com

inspired menu alongside real ales and an exiting wine list”.

http://www.ciborestaurant.net/home.html Very popular and competitively priced Italian restaurant. Mains

RANDA

include braised wild boar with Roman semolina dumplings (£17.50),

23 Kensington Church Street, London W84LF

sea bream baked with lemon and herbs (£16.50), and gnocchi with

Tel 020 79375363

pesto and pine kernels (£11).

http://maroush.com

The Bird in Hand 88 Masbro Road, Brook Green, Kensington, London W14 0LR

“Fresh and healthy lebanese food and lebanese wine”, from £5 to £15 a head.

Tel 020 7371 2721 Email: hello@tbihl.com

KANNA THAI RESTAURANT

http://thebirdinhandlondon.com/

127A Hammersmith Road, London W14 0QL

A bar and restaurant in a converted pub, serving Italian and

Tel 020 7602 5855 Email: kannathairestaurant@yahoo.co.uk

other European dishes in small plates for diners to share. Prices

http://kannathai.co.uk

per dish range from £3.50 (baby gem salad) to £13.50 (Parma

Thai food at about £15 a head served in a “great, local Thai restaurant

ham pizza).

with a European twist” one Trip Advisor reviewer writes.

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