Live at the London Book Fair
by Zoe Strimpel
Wed, 16 Apr 2008
The London Book Fair has had its share of headlines and high-profile speakers. Gordon Brown was here Monday talking books with Sebastian Faulks. (Few knew of the prime minister's appearance before it happened, and the talk was in a private room off the main two halls of Earls Court.) Francesca Simon, recent winner of the Galaxy British Book Awards, spoke today.
But, as my visit today confirmed, this is first and foremost a trade show, and it has none of the glamour of Frieze, the big art fair of similar acreage. Here, the floor is dominated by the pavilions of the big boys — Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House. But there are hundreds of stands of every type, from distributors and manufacturers to obscure American industry bodies, to Swedish and Flemish book companies. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of some of the most exciting books that have been mentioned — Toni Morrison's "A Mercy" and Philip Roth's "Indignation." Sadly, those were only being shopped (or, rather, proudly showcased and discussed) by their agents, who were hidden away in a no-go zone up some ominous-looking escalators. Consequently, bookshelves were decorated with tasters rather than laden with goodies.
The Arab contingent was ubiquitous. The Arab world is the fair's "market focus" this year, so there were lots of talks on the topic. (I walked in on one about memoir and memory in Arab literature. Half of it was in Arabic, and I could not make head or tail of either the speakers or the audience questions.) The market floor was filled with stand after stand from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and the Emirates, with manual-esque books in Arabic. It was hard to get a grasp of what they were offering because of the language barrier. In various passageways, glass cases contained special copies of the Koran. In short, it looked to be wholesale promotion of the Arab world, but without the means to literally translate it to the largely English-speaking (and British) people here.
The café tables set out at the big pavilions are emptying of their studious sorts now, thousands of meetings concluded, and the stands are packing up. I hope good business was conducted. It certainly isn't a spectator sport.
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