More than 850 exhibitors and 15,000 visitors packed into Olympia London, UK for the “best ever” London Book Fair.
The 6-7 April event was the first live edition of the trade show since 2019.
Highlights of the RX-owned show included talks from authors Maggie O’Farrell, Greg James and Chris Smith, Afra Atiq, and illustrator Diane Ewen. Booker prize-winning Ben Okri gave the keynote speech.
Exhibitors were delighted with the turnout, citing successful meetings with senior buyers.
Heron Publishing – who have been attending the show “forever”, told EW's sister publication EN: “We have been here every year going back as far as I can remember. This is definitely the busiest and best I’ve ever seen it. We have had a very successful show.”
Show director Andy Ventris said: ”This is the first face-to-face edition of The London Book Fair since 2019. The publishing industry has done some great things in the last three years, but it hasn’t met like this. More than 15,000 people from 70+ countries, 850 exhibiting companies from all sectors of the industry, over 100 seminars covering the key issues in the industry today and so many highlights.”
Jenny Rideout, managing director non-consumer for Bloomsbury Publishing, said: “There’s a real energy coming from today’s show. Almost the relief and the joy of having the in-person collaboration.”
Children’s author and Radio One host Greg James said: “It’s great to get together after so long.
Chris Smith added: “Roll on 2023’s London Book Fair, can we come?”
Nielsen Book revealed market analysis at the event, with print books experiencing a surge in popularity.
They found that print saw a resurgence with 213m books sold in 2020 and 2021 and book sales see year-on-year growth in 2022 Q1.
Manga, cosy crime and celebrity memoirs were the most popular genres since the pandemic.
