Posted by Justine Solomons on 17 April 2024, in News
(Featured photo Byte the Book member Rachael Davis with her new book You Got This, published by Little Tiger)
Last Monday 8th April I travelled to Italy for the Bologna Book Fair. Bologna Book Fair Plus, for the third year running, produced an adult programme to sit along the Children’s Book Fair and Byte the Book partnered with them to offer some free tickets to our members. The adult programme, the chance to see some of our members, the lure of ice cream and the sunny Fiere halls were more than enough reason for me to go along. It's been a while since I visited Bologna and I'm so pleased I went.
Julia Eccleshare sporting a Byte The Book Badge at Heathrow on the way to the fair
I travelled to the fair with my neighbour Julia Eccleshare MBE, and a cab was ordered to collect us from the airport and take us to the Gruffalo party. I left my phone in that cab and it was returned to an apartment block next to party late the next day where I finally tracked it down the next morning. This meant that for my first thirty six hours in Bologna I had no phone just my computer. Below are some of my notes and computer photos.
I had lots of meetings at the fair but I planned to attend some panels and a prize on Tuesday morning. Here are my notes and computer photos from those sessions.
BREAKING BARRIERS: WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP ROLES Learn about the experiences of female publishers in leadership positions. Discussing the challenges of breaking into leadership roles, navigating gender biases, and fostering diversity in publishing Organized by PublisHer
From left to right chair Elena Pasoli, Bologna Book Fair. Akoss Ofori-Mensah Sub Saharan Publishers, Shirley Carby Carlong Publishers and Ana Maria Cabanellas, Grupa Claridad (and former president of the International Publishers Association)
This was an incredibly moving panel chaired by Elena of the Bologna Book Fair on the PublisHer stage and featuring the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award Shirley Carby. of Carlong Publishers.
Elena began by asking all the panellists to tell us a bit about how their started their companies.
Ana, said "in Argentina all the books were in black covers, but in our company we believe in diversity in books and in all formats, we like colour."
I was sat next to Shirley’s daughter Candice in the audience and we started talking prior to the panel because we were both wearing neons so we could relate the need for colour in publishing and in life!
Shirley Carby said Jamaica had been known more for Bob Marley and Hussain Bolt rather than publishing when she started out.
Colourful Candice and cool Carl in pink shirt in the background, proud of their Mum and wife who has just won the Publisher Excellence Awards. Photo credit Supadu's Sarah Arbuthnot
So Shirley thought to herself “ why don’t I publish books specifically for the Jamaican market, I could get 10,000 copies sold”. She approached Longman to see if they wanted to work together, but they weren’t happy about that as they saw it as competition. She decided to use trained teachers and teach them authoring skills. Shirley had been a teacher herself.
“I see the hand of G-d in my entire career” she said and her bold decision was rewarded when she sold more copies than any Longman books had sold before.
Her husband Carl, who had a background in big businesses outside of publishing but was always supportive of his wife came to England with her and negotiated with Longman to sell in Jamaica for them.
Shirley was the first in her family to go to university, she said, “we never had much money but education was always the thing for us.”
Akoss holding up the first picture book they published
Akoss of Sub - Sahara Publishers based in Ghana, said she wanted to publish her country’s own stories rather than waiting for people to come to them, There were so many stories and people being largely ignored, especially for example stories about disabled people. She published a picture book based on a true story of a disabled boy who saved his village from floods and the book sold really well. It was the first picture book sold by a Sub-Sahara publisher.
She was invited out to Auckland and while there was invited to Taiwan, as they were keen to have her books sold in Taiwan. This led to four of her Sub-Saharan African books being translated into Chinese
Akoss said she grew up on colonial literature but now she wanted to share her literature with colonial people.
We moved on to talk about the barriers they had faced women in their careers
Ana said she wasn’t allowed to buy her company because she was a woman and she was often the only woman on the board.
Elena said in Italy an important barrier starts when women are young girls and they experience their family bias against female education. “Women need to not be discriminated against in the family first.”
Elena said she wanted to thank these women for what they’ve done for future female generations. and the doors that they opened. She mentioned Sheikha Bodour who had become the president of the International Publishers Asssociation a few years ago and set up the PublisHer platform. Ana is also a former president of the IPA.
Shirley said, There was no publishing association in Jamaica, she was the pioneer, there weren’t any publishers there at all. She had to educate people about the difference between publishing and teaching. "Women are getting so many more opportunities in Jamaica now" she said. They have had a female president and the stock exchange is headed by women as are most of the major banks. The Lord Chief Justice was also a women. When Shirley entered University in 1964 she was the only person from her village and there were very few women in the University., Today 70% of students at university are women. “There is a toughness about Jamaican women” she said. “I married late in my life (late 30s). My husband knew what he had to deal with." She went on to add "I am very strong on family. Women don’t need to sacrifice family to do well."
Shirley has now retired and passed her business onto her son and her daughter Candice. Candice is much younger than her brother but Candice says that he shouldn’t be the head of the company just because he is a male. Shirley is keeping a close eye on both of them.
Shirley doesn’t appear to feel her sex has limited her at all, she finished off by saying she’s always thought of herself as “one of the boys”
The PublisHer mission
I asked from the floor, “Do you think women are better at managing people and having an environment that nurtures growth of their employees?”
Elena said, ‘women just do what needs to get done without questioning.” Ana added, "we are used to doing it at home and we do it in business as well. Books take a while to publish, like gestating a child, whether a woman has children or not they have more patience."
Why have these women done so well? they gave some clues at the end of the talk
Ana said , “my parents were exiled from Spain, they learned the only thing you can rely on is what is in your head. That is why education is so important.”
Shirley is incredibly driven and loves what she does. She said “I was 75 before I realised it was time to retire!”
Akoss praised her culture for helping her to be successful “there are so many relatives to help you manage your babies.”
As they say it takes a village to raise a child, and woman play such a important role in that, these women especially are some of the powerhouses behind the global village of children’s publishing.
Then I went over to the Bologna Book Plus Theatre to catch some of one of their sessions.
Here's our logo alongside some of the other BBPlus partners.
CALL YOUR AGENT: HOW TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL LITERARY AGENT
with Lora Fountain (France), Sofia di Capita (Spain), Evy Tillman (Norway) , Emily Chuang (Taiwan) and Jacks Thomas HALL 29 MALL 1BBPlus Theatre
Some of the panel from left to right Evy Tillman, Jacks Thomas (chair), Sofia di Capita and Lora Fountain
I arrived after the session had started and said down next to Rachael Davis one of our members.
Lora a French agent said , We’re not in this business to get rich
Sofia is based in Barcelona said it was important to keep and grow the Catalan language as well as Spanish, and she negotiates rights for both sides of the pond.
Emily Taiwan (pictured below in white) has a far bigger market. There are 23 million people in Taiwan
Evie said of that in Norway they have a very special literary system which makes it difficult to translated titles to succeed in Norway, the government buys 1500 copies for the libraries and the booksellers are obliged to have copies on all in the bookstores. If a book is translated into Norweigian it doesn’t get the same guaranteed sales. In contrast to Taiwan they are a tiny country with a population of only 5 million people, the politics are to look after Norwegian language, so it’s a big risk to buy a Norwegian title. She said “ that means we don’t get so many stories from abroad.” She works in Oskahaut. The agencies policy changed a few years ago. Need to understand what type of literature will travel. Work closely with editors and authors. Need skill to understand what the clients abroad want to have. It’s hard for Evie to sell to the UK. Last year graphic novels is strong for today’s readers.
Lara said she works mainly in translated rights and also is the main agent for a few graphic novels. "Graphic novels are a way of getting reluctant readers to read." she said
Lara said literary agents in Spain often work directly with authors based in Latin American countries. She said all main literary agencies are based in the US and Spain. This means that major authors from Latin American Countries are represented not in their native countries but in US or Spain. Jacks said we need to start a campaign to get agents in Latin America as well
from right to left Jacks Thomas (BBPlus,) Sofia di Capita (Spain) and Emily Chuang (Taiwan)
In Taiwan, there aren’t many lit agents, mostly co-agents, agency established last spring
Evie said that in Norway to be a Norwegian author you don’t need an agent, they work directly with a publisher, an agent will come in only when working with foreign rights.
Unfortunately I was not able to stay until the end of the panel as was meeting Julia at the Astrid Lindrgen Prize so I rushed off through the halls, out in the sunshine and then back to the Illustrators Cafe to hear the annoucement.
The busy Illustators' Cafe
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ASTRID LINDGREN MEMORIAL AWARD 2024. in the Illustrators Café Announcement of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2024, broadcast live from Stockholm.
Åsa Bergman, Head of Office, ALMA; Kajsa Ravin, Director General, Swedish Arts Council; Samuel Sandberg Bremell, consultant, Embassy of Sweden to Italy; Boel Westin, Chairman of the ALMA Jury; Balsam Karam, Jury member, ALMA; Mårten Sandén, Jury member, ALMA; Bjorn Sundmark, Jury member, ALMA.Organized by Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Waiting for the ammounement with some of Julia's publishing mates.
Networking in pink with the Head of the Slovenia guest of honour contingent.
Samuel Sandberg Bremell, consultant, Embassy of Sweden to Italy
Astrid Lindgren wrote Pippi longstocking, Samuel said "in today’s world where the respect for human rights is undert hreat and even trampled upon, Astrid voice is needed most. Literature has the ability to transcend borders which is especially true for children’s literature. Children's publishing today reflects the new realities of diversity, gender and family morals. Giving kids the opportunity to read is the most vital thing for children. As adults we have a responsibility to help children read, espeically in Swedish (his language) and he congratulates all at the fair.
The Swedish Culture Minister announcing the award
The prize is 5m Swedish Krona (about £366,000 ) and is the biggest prize fianancially in publishing.
Pre award being announced “every child’s right for great stories” more than 200 authors and illustrators have been nominated.
And the winner is.. Announced by the chair of the judges The Indigenous literature foundation, Australia
https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/
Ben Bowen CEO of the Indigeneous Literary Foundation
Ben was called live and told the audience in Bologna and Sweden were listening live that he was “lost for words”. He managed to say "Thanks so much for considering us let us know putting us in this amazing position."
Then I started my meetings, interspersed with some tattooing, stand parties, dinners and networking. Collecting my phone at the apartment block next to the Gruffalo party on Wednesday morning and enjoyed a few more days out in Bologna before returning home early on Friday morning.
Erin Murgutroyd Rights at Nosy Crow
Prashant Pathak, the charming host of nightly Publishers Without Borders drinks at La Linea. Prashant bought all ladies attending roses (I got two roses on the nights I went). Here he is with Brazilian Publisher Daisy De Oliveira.
