The new old times

Two years after British prime minister Boris Johnson called the first national lockdown, is there now a real sense of a return to normal? Maybe. 

This week the Bologna Children’s Book Fair took place for real (see theBookseller.com for our downloadable daily editions), with trade visitors seemingly invigorated by a close proximity to Italian hospitality. Closer to home, we held the first round of judging for the British Book Awards (BBA) in person for the first time since 2019, and the Rathbones Folio Prize held a party at the British Library. Meanwhile, in just over a week, the London Book Fair begins, with just over 860 exhibitors scheduled to be there (see The LBF Preview in this week’s issue), compared to say 1,000 pre-corona. As you would hope, the meeting requests and party invites have begun to mount too. 

We are taking baby-steps. Of the eight Folio-shortlisted authors, the rump had to pull out of the party; at Bologna rights diaries were full despite the absence of publishers—in the main—from the US and Asia; while at the BBA judging, Zoom was an ever-present. 

The difficulty this year was not in selecting the shortlists, but in judging who to leave behind at this point. As in the year before, 2021 was marked by outlandish success built on the incredible effort and dedication of the many

In short, we are running the gamut of the new times; sometimes outpacing developments, but equally likely to be side-swiped by them. But beneath it all, there is a quiet determination to push things along a bit. At Bologna, Belinda Rasmussen, publisher of Macmillan Children’s Books, summed things up: “I came mainly because I just wanted to send a message about how we need to get back to being in person.” It is a statement that will be well received.

As the release of the British Book Awards shortlists demonstrate (see pp06–07 and the separate supplement published with this week’s issue), the trade has hardly slacked off over these past two years, with shortlisted books such as: Bob Mortimer’s And Away...; Vaxxers; Keisha the Sket; Empire of the Vampire; You are a Champion; Girl A; Mrs Death Misses Death; Beautiful World, Where Are You; Assembly; A Different Sort of Normal; Detransition, Baby; The Last Bear; The Passenger ; and The Lyrics, showing not only the trade’s breadth across a range of different categories and books, but also how agile and responsive to readers this business has become. 

As ever, I will point to the Publicity and Marketing categories as the engine rooms of much that the trade does well, and the newish Designer category for the pivotal role creatives play in positioning titles and catching the eye of prospective book buyers. I also welcome the return of the Individual Bookseller award that recognises the central role played by booksellers across our businesses.

The difficulty this year was not in selecting the shortlists, but in judging who to leave behind at this point. As in the year before, 2021 was marked by outlandish success built on the incredible effort and dedication of the many. 

Of course, no one goes into this next period unscathed after the past two years, and no one can pretend that for all of the successes there has not also been at times a real struggle. But we are making it through, and an end may yet be in sight.