London Book Fair Listens, and Will Move Back to Olympia In 2015

 Publishers Lunch

The London Book Fair will leave behind the Earl's Court exhibition center after the next convention in April -- since it is due to be demolished as part of a sweeping redevelopment of the area. Fair officials have made the sensible decision to move back to nearby Olympia in 2015, rather than trying to persuade publishing visitors to try the more modern facility Excel on the outskirts of Eastern London.

Director Jacks Thomas said in the announcement: "We have listened long and hard to those who participate in The London Book Fair and, while it is sad that Earls Court is unlikely to form part of the London exhibition venue mix, we fully appreciate the great affection the industry has for West London and believe that moving to Olympia is currently the right move for the publishing industry."

LBF did try Excel once, in 2006, with poor results. They would have remained there except the Frankfurt Book Fair forced their hand with plans for an alternate show back in central London. Earlier in the process this year it sounded from UK trade reports as if show organizers were trying to persuade the community that Excel had changed appreciably. Olympia has been renovated and expanded since the LBF was last held there.

People, Awards, and More

The NEA announced 38 recipients of creative writing fellowships, providing awards of $25,000 to each of the writers (or $950,000 in all). Recipients include Percival Everett, Daniel Mason and Justin Torres.

Margaret Wrinkle's WASH won the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.

Canada's Western University has created the Alice Munro Chair in Creativity in honor of their Nobel-winning alumna and has committed $1.5 million to match donations to fund the chair. They aim to "recruit a creative writer, teacher and scholar who will advance the university's tradition of excellence in developing the talents of students and future writers."

The UK's National Book Awards were presented Wednesday night, to honorees including: Malala Yousafzai, I Am Malala (nonfiction); Kate Atkinson, Life After Life (UK author); Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl (international author); Liza Klaussman, Tigers in Red Weather (new writer); and Robert Harris, An Officer and A Spy (popular fiction).