Category: Book Fairs

The Arab Renaissance set back by worsening censorship in Kuwait. Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov among 1,000 titles banned at Kuwait Book Fair

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After the resounding success of the Sharjah International Book Fair in the UAE, extolling a message of cultural tolerance and publishing freedom, the Arab literary arena was this week plunged into controversy once more as the Kuwait International Literary Festival kicked off. Running November 14 through 24 the Kuwait event was already standing in the Read More …

Sharjah 2.23 million. Algiers 2.2 million. 4.4 million visitors to Arab book fairs in the past two weeks. The Arab Renaissance gathers momentum

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The Sharjah International Book Fair just missed last year’s record-breaking 2.38 million visitors, but it was still a fabulous show, with 2.23 million turning out to the UAE’s biggest literary event. Sales numbers haven’t been announced yet, but at day 7 (of 11) were reported to be running at 15% higher than 2017’s record-breaking sales. Read More …

Big Bad Wolf preps for third Philippines run. Aims for 30 cities in 2019

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There are three contenders for “the” global publishing story of the year here at TNPS, and regulars will not be surprised to learn Big Bad Wolf is among them. But unless one of the other two produce a remarkable rabbit from a hat in the next two months then Big Bad Wolf is going to Read More …

Bangladesh Book Fair in Kolkata sets the scene for Kolkata IBF and the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela

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On any given day there are more book fairs and festivals happening around the world than anyone could keep track of, where readers, authors and publishers congregate, seemingly oblivious to our quaint western notion that, if books aren’t being sold in bookstores or on Amazon then, well, nobody in that country reads. Take the 8th Read More …

The Handmaid’s Tale released in UAE as Arab book market globalisation builds

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Margaret Atwood’s famous dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale is available in Arabic – for the first time ever. The internationalisation of the Arab book markets continues apace, and is epitomised by the release of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in Arabic at the Sharjah International Book Fair. Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s novel, set in a Read More …

Sales down but visitors up at Brazil’s Porto Alegre Book Fair. The world’s untracked book sales redux

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A common theme here at TNPS is tracking the myriad book fairs around the world that pass unnoticed by the Anglophone publishing media. These can range from huge events like SILA (Algiers International Book Fair happening right now in Algeria. which last year drew 1.75 million visitors), to an untold number of “smaller” book fairs Read More …

Book sales up again in Brazil, but another story lies in Brazil’s growing book exports – $700,000 in deals at Frankfurt alone

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A common feature of any discussion about a given book market is that the sales happening in the domestic retail sector are the only numbers that matter. This week comes news in Brazil from a study by GfK and the National Bookstores Association (ANL) that, compared with the same period in 2017, book sales are Read More …

As Sharjah takes centre-stage, Kuwait’s Almultaqa Prize Announces 5-book Pan-Arab Shortlist for 2018

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With the Sharjah International Book Fair underway in the United Arab Emirates you could be forgiven for thinking there was only one bookish event happening in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) arena right now. The just finished Khartoum International Book Fair, for example, passed almost completely unnoticed in Sudan, while the still on-going Algiers Read More …

Big Bad Wolf Blows The House Down. 10 Million Books to Indonesia

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Just when you think the world of books can’t get any crazier… We’ve seen Big Bad Wolf take millions of (mostly) English-language books to Sri Lanka this year (1.5 million), Taiwan (2 million), Philippines (twice – 2 million and 1 million)), Malaysia (3 times so far and at least one more to go – well Read More …

B&N For Sale, Bowker’s Million Self-Publishers and Mark Lefebvre Joins Draft2Digital – The Hot Sheet Reviewed

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The Hot Sheet is a publishing industry news-sheet for authors, produced every two weeks by Porter Anderson and Jane Friedman, and reviewed here every other Sunday (when possible) as one of the best bi-weekly industry overviews available to authors. We’re not interested in delivering breaking news, but perspective on stories that are likely to retain meaning for your Read More …