Carolyn Reidy to headline at Frankfurt CEO Talk

Simon & Schuster's president and c.e.o. Carolyn Reidy will be a “Guest of Honour” at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair and will speak about “strategic developments in international publishing”.

Reidy will feature in the Frankfurt CEO Talk on 11th October along with Guillaume Dervieux, v.p of France's Albin Michel.

The discussion will cover “strategic developments in international publishing, in particular the intrinsic relevance of books and publishers in today’s global context of media competition, as well as the transformation of audiences and their cultural practices”. It will take place at the Frankfurter Buchmesse and forms part of the Frankfurter Buchmesse’s Business Club programme.

The panel discussion will be presented by The Bookseller on behalf of the UK, Livres Hebdo (France), with Bookdao (China), buchreport (Germany), PublishNews (Brazil) and Publishers Weekly (USA). The discussion will be chaired by Rüdiger Wischenbart featuring the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry 2017 and will be opened by Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

A spokesperson for the book fair, which takes place in the German city between 11th and 15th October, said: “Albin Michel in France and Simon & Schuster in the USA represent vibrant traditions and accomplishments in consumer publishing. Their respective domestic markets stand out not only for their relevance and market size in the global books business, but also for retaining significant cultural positions in the public eye.”

The spokesperson also discussed a need to understand the “fundamental transformation” of storytelling. They said: “As we witness fundamental change, not only of the publishing industry but of all content generators and media organizations, books, reading and even more broadly storytelling, are subject to fundamental transformation.”

Reidy and Dervieux will address these issues as well a “wide range of key topics facing the industry right now” and details of their personal accomplishments. Reidy “will represent the US” as the world’s largest publishing market respectively.

She urged colleagues to “resist censorship” in December following a "tumultuous year" both politically and culturally. In the email circulated to all staff, Reidy said it was S&S' "responsibility" both to "resist censorship" and "to stand unequivocally for freedom of speech"-"no matter how difficult that might be at times". 

S&S US came under fire last year after it announced plans to publish far-rightwing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos' memoir, Dangerous, through its imprint, Threshold Editions. After reportedly paying the writer a $250,000 advance the publisher pulled out of the deal in February following a radio interview in which he appeared to condone paedophilia.

In May, Yiannopoulos revealed his intention to www.thebookseller.com/news/yiannopoulos-files-ss-us-10m-lawsuit-585461">sue S&S US for $10m and he self-published the title on 4th July. S&S US told The Bookseller it “expected to prevail" against the lawsuit.