LBF awards reward trade excellence

Turkish agent Nermin Mollaoglu, HarperCollins UK and Sharjah ruler Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi were among the winners at last night’s London Book Fair International Excellence Awards.

Sultan Al-Qasimi was given the Simon Master Chairman’s Award for his contribution to the UAE’s publishing industry. The Literary Translation Initiative Award will also return to the emirate, with Arabic Literature (in English) founder Marcia Lynx Qualey triumphant for her “dedication to creating cross-cultural understanding in the diverse world of Arabic literature”, the judges said. Kalem Agency founder Mollaoglu won the Literary Agent Award, with the judges stating that “in one decade [she has become a] bridge to the outside world for her writers, at a point in Turkish history when that connection is more crucial than ever”.

HarperCollins UK was named the inaugural winner of the new Inclusivity in Publishing Award, and was lauded for its “efforts and achievements towards improving inclusivity in publishing, a drive which is much needed for our industry”.

Other winners included Paris’ Shakespeare & Company, named Bookshop of the Year; Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry, winner of The Market Focus Poland Children’s and Young Adult Publisher Award; and Book Aid International (Africa), which won the Educational Initiatives Award.