Snippets from LBF '16: Juggernaut, Indian translations, book app

Juggernaut launching on 21 April
From India standpoint, one person who made the most heads turn at London Book Fair 2016 was the former Penguin Random House publishing director Chiki Sarkar. Sarkar was in London to promote her new publishing venture, Juggernaut, which is being launched on 21 April 2016. To start with, the company, which is looking at smartphones as a major distribution platform for its books, will begin with 100 titles, 50 its own, and 50 it is distributing.

In another major development for Juggernaut at London Book Fair, the company signed Rajat Gupta, the former managing director of McKinsey, who went to jail for insider trading in America, as one of its authors.

Indian translations
In a panel discussion titled ‘Going Global: How the Postcolonial World Is Challenging the Metropolitan Centers of Publishing’, by French academic Pascale Casanova’s premise that the centres of book trade need to be diversified, Vinutha Mallya, a consulting editor and founder of the Kaavi Literary Agency, reiterated that the Indian constitution allowed for literary diversity and state-funded translations. “It’s a collection of many different languages and cultures. These realities help us become naturally multilingual. On any given day, we speak several languages and interpret and translate daily, which is very different from how Western cultures approach languages.”

Still when it comes to literatures, Mallya said, a lots need to be done. She said there are linguistic hierarchies in India. Most Indian writers known in the Western world are those who write in English. “So there’s lots to be done in translation and it’s imperative that India represents its literatures. We need to show the world what literatures in plural are like,” he said.

Serialised publishing
Julian Fellowes, the creator of fan-favourite British soap opera, Downton Abbey, is writing a new novel, and for this, he has created a mobile app, where the novel would be serialised. So every week the user would be able to read or listen to one chapter of the book. The novel is called Belgravia. So the app is called Belgravia app. At the Fair, Fellowes discussed why ‘serialised’ publishing is back in vogue thanks to modern technology. The London Book Fair also revealed research showing that 41% of 18-23 year olds read serialised fiction on a monthly basis.

Public libraries
Public libraries were a hot topic at this year’s Fair, as children’s author Philip Ardagh participated in a lively panel debate entitled 'No to Library Closures – the benefits of the public library in the UK and beyond.

The Shakespearience
2016 saw LBF commemorate 400 years since the death of the bard, with multi-lingual performances of some of Shakespeare’s most-loved works at the onsite Globe Theatre. From Arabic to Hindi and Polish to Maltese, actors took to the specially constructed mini Globe Theatre to delight the passing crowds with some of Shakespeare best-loved sonnets.

Publishers congress
The London Book Fair played host to the 31st International Publishers Congress on Sunday, where keynote speaker Arnaud Nourry, CEO, Hachette, gave a rousing and optimistic speech on the state of the industry. Later in the afternoon, author Philip Pullman gave an enlightening talk on the four revolutions, which have impacted the book business over the years.

Academic publishing
The academic publishing community flocked to the dedicated scholarly publishing theatre The Faculty to hear from various speakers on current industry trends. As in previous years Open Access played a large role in the conversations here, with the debate moving on to focus on how publishers can better disseminate content and make their OA content more discoverable.

Authors HQ
Crowds gathered at Author HQ on the show floor, where a full seminar programme over the three days provided clear, concise advice for how authors can interact with the publishing community. Agent one-on-ones were fully subscribed and agents, authors and publishers imparted insight to a host of authors.