Page hails 'prescient' writers in age of Trump

Publishers will have to be "broad, open and diverse in their interests and in the voices they find" in response to the turbulent political climate caused by President Trump's election, Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page has said.

Speaking to The Bookseller at the Faber Spring Party last night (6th February) which showcased writers including Andrew O'Hagan, Sally Rooney and Miranda Doyle, Page praised the prescience of Faber's writers, saying: "There’s an extraordinary sense that writers are already ahead of us, they’re already harvesting the stuff that’s in the ether, and with the arrival of these apparently shocking events in 2016, they were on to them before we were."

He added: "So we feel like we’re already in it, publishing books that challenge a narrow perspective but don’t also become narrow in themselves".

Page said that in order to combat the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that has emerged following Trump's victory, "we have to stay open and diverse and listen".

Page added: "The notion that if a book makes money then it’s OK to publish it is no longer good enough, and I think that publishers will have to relearn that the choices they make will affect their own opportunity in the world."

Stephen Page with author Andrew O'Hagan

The Faber chief also expressed gratitude at the "incredible" turn-out of booksellers, bloggers and media at the event. "Spring is a time when we can bring such a diverse list the market, so for a literary publisher like us, it’s sort of the most thrilling season… we arrive at this evening, so excited at having created space around each of the books, to hear the writers talk about them, to launch them out to such a vibrant book community, it’s incredible", he said. "When you look back five years and say we would have not been able to fill this room with booksellers, bloggers, media, it’s such a different world and it’s a good world for us. So that’s what we really get tonight, we get really charged by having our books in front of people."

He said: "Faber at the moment is enjoying a very pleasing and exciting success as a publishing house, and as a business we’ve weathered a lot after nearly 90 years, but what we’re enjoying over the last couple of years with the resurgence of bookshops, the reader stepping back towards print books, has been a really thrilling transformation, that we can step towards with great confidence as a literary quality publishing house."

Faber author Sebastian Barry read from his Costa award-winning novel Days Without End to launch the showcase.

Communications director Rachel Alexander said the event was a welcome way to "remind us of the power of literature to tell our human story amid uncertain times".

Faber's showcased authors