Lessons from London Book Fair
Come with me to Olympia as I spill the Fair's secrets
This week, I spent three days at the London Book Fair, which takes place in London’s Olympia and is less book festival, more a place where the business of books occurs. Books are bought and sold, fortunes are made, deals are struck, the food is terrible (as is the signage), and the lanyards are unusually large. It was enervating and inspiring - if not a little tiring. Publishing people can a. talk and b. party (drink).
On the third day, I had a high old time chairing the main stage - which involved a key note (my thoughts on how we get children reading); a discussion with William Rayfet Hunter (Will’s novel, Sunstruck, is published in May, and will slide nicely into the Saltburn-shaped hole in your life) and Taylor-Dior Rumble, whose book The Situationship is less rom-com and more find-yourself-com and captures that crazy febrile, hot mess of your twenties. And then I introduced the subsequent panels. In a discussion with The Reading Agency, Kit de Waal and Claire Mackintosh were so good on why we need to encourage and empower reluctant readers, why reading matters, that I was nodding like the dog in the Churchill advert.
And then I came home and was hugged and hugged, and ordered a takeaway from Wagamama, and sat at my desk the next day and worked for hours with just the hum of Radio 4 for company. I chucked out all the flowers which had died and replaced them with tulips and daffodils (surely the cheeriest of flowers?), and dispensed affection and advice to my lovely teen. I am still working my way through the mountain of washing which mysteriously accrued during my absence. I read two more books (I am on an absolutely golden reading streak - more of which next week). And I thought that this is the stuff of life: the work and the love and the domestic all mixed in together in one glorious whole. It is not neat and tidy; there are no ends and the threads tangle together - but it is hugely satisfying.
Anyway, I digress, as per usual. In between meetings and reporting, I scribbled notes for myself - which I now share with you. (One of my highlights was bumping into my friend
who I hadn’t seen in forever - and it was JOY. I have just noticed that she has written her own list of LBF discoveries, which to me proves that this is a post worth writing, for Tammy is an excellent writer, editor and a woman of ideas - not least setting up her own indie publishing company.) Herewith my key learnings - as reader and a writer.Read on for more insider reporting from the London Book Fair, including the major book trends to look out for (some of which were NOT what I was expecting), some absolutely brilliant tips on writing from the likes of Elif Shafak, Adele Parks and Monica Ali (which I have taken to heart), and the book which kept me company this week.