Bourne and Phillips headline LBF

Caryl Phillips and Holly Bourne are some of the authors headlining the 2019 London Book Fair. 

Authors Phillips and Bourne will join Indonesian author Seno Gumira Ajidarma, fronting the Author of the Day programme for 2019. German author Simone Buchholz and French writer Antoine Laurain have also been revealed as special guests for the fair, which runs from Tuesday 12th to Thursday 14th March.

Kittitian-British writer and professor of English Literature at Yale University Phillips will appear on the opening day of the fair discussing some of his 16 works of fiction and non-fiction, with his most recent book exploring the life of the late writer and feminist figure Jean Rhys, A View of the Empire at Sunset (Vintage). 

As part of this year’s Market Focus on Indonesia, Gumira Ajidarma will appear on 13th March. His work is characterised by its focus on everyday life and scrutiny of contemporary social, cultural and political conditions, LBF organisers said. Also a journalist, photographer, lecturer and film critic, he is known in Indonesia as a consistent advocate of free speech and freedom of publication, writing about sensitive issues, including military violence in East Timor.

The third and final day of LBF (14th March) will see Bourne appearing as 'Children’s Author of the Day', discussing how mental health awareness and gender equality have influenced her novels, including her most recent book Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? (Usbourne).

The fair will also welcome three European authors to the fair as special guests on Tuesday 12th March. To discuss their work and how we maintain cultural ties across Europe will be Germany’s crime-writer Buchholz, a former journalist whose forthcoming novel, Beton Rouge, (Orenda, February 2019) follows an investigation into deaths at Germany’s biggest newspaper, along with Belgian author Stefan Hertmans  of The Convert (Harvill Secker, June 2019), and Laurain, whose novel Vintage 1954, which will be published by Gallic in June. 

LBF director Jacks Thomas said: “We are delighted to welcome to this year’s London Book Fair such an outstanding line-up of authors whose audiences encompass millennials to boomers and beyond. Their work reminds us of the timelessness of great literature, from inspirational storytelling to stimulating non-fiction that transcends cultural, social and geographical boundaries.

“As we look ahead to The London Book Fair in March, it’s inevitable that our minds must also turn to the month’s impending Brexit deadline and what this will mean for us both economically and culturally as a global industry; we extend a warm welcome to those whose work demonstrates the best of the best that the publishing world offers today.”