LBF moves back to March for 2019 and 2020

The London Book Fair (LBF) is taking place in March both in 2019 and in 2020 after the organiser's research confirmed it was the most popular month to hold the event. 

LBF's 2019 exhibition dates will be Tuesday 12th - Thursday 14th March 2019, and its 2020 exhibition dates will be Tuesday 10th - Thursday 12th March 2020. Both exhibitions will be held at Olympia London.

Usually the fair is held in April, as it is this year, but in 2017 it was moved to March owing to what director Jacks Thomas admitted was "a logistical problem" posed by a potential clash with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair due to the way that Easter and other holidays fell that year. Now a statement on behalf of LBF said its research had shown "on balance, a March date was favoured". 

"The London Book Fair has worked closely with its venue partner, Olympia, to get the best dates available within a very crowded event schedule," the statement read. 

Dates for 2019's Bologna Children’s Book Fair have been confirmed for 25th - 28th March 2019 - less than two weeks after LBF.

Organisers noted that in the years before 2006, London Book Fair was a regular March fixture. This year’s LBF is taking place at Olympia London from 10th - 12th April 2018.

LBF also revealed its shortlist for the International Excellence Awards today (9th March). Celebrating excellence internationally in 17 categories, including international publishing, bookselling, academic and scholarly publishing, children’s publishing, literary translation and digital innovation, Brazil leads the way with five nominations, closely followed by USA with four, with a record-high 27 countries represented overall. 

The first-ever Audiobook Publisher Award will see KaihShu Story Media & Culture Co (China), Penguin Random House (USA) and Ubook.com (Brazil) compete, while Biblo Tøyen (Norway), Dokk1 (Denmark), National Library of Latvia (Lativia) and São Paulo Library (Brazil) will vie for the new Library of the Year Award. Retailers from across the world shortlisted for the Bookstore of the Year Award, sponsored by Gardners, comprise Carturesti (Romania), Timbooktoo (Gambia) and The Uppsala English Bookshop (Sweden).