Jacks Thomas

How can publishing compete with the allure of the tech companies? Do the tech companies scream "today" - even "tomorrow" - while publishing is still perceived as being stuck in "yesterday?" Does media portrayal of the publishing industry help or hinder? These were among issues raised at the London Book Fair's third 'Tech Tuesday" event last week, held in super cool Hoxton, a very funky area of east London, close to Old Street's "silicon roundabout" where so many app companies are based.

You have probably heard the news. So long Earls Court, last one out, turn off the lights. The London Book Fair is moving for 2015 and beyond. But what may have not come through about the end of the Earls Court era of the London Book Fair, is that its new home, the Olympia London, is, well, pretty spectacular.

"I think the one clear message I'd like to get across is that this is not the Olympia it was before," LBF director Jacks Thomas told PW.

Publishers from Belorussia, Pakistan, India, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, the U.S. and China were among the winners of the first London Book Fair International Book Industry Excellence Awards, given in association with the Publishers Association and presented at the fair yesterday.