National Literacy Trust and Book Aid International named LBF 'Charities of the Year'

The National Literacy Trust (NLT) and the book donation charity Book Aid International have been appointed joint "Charities of the Year" for the 2024 London Book Fair (LBF). 

The fair said that there were "a strong pool of candidates" that applied this year, and that the two charities appointed are focused on "bringing books and literacy to wider and younger audiences".

Jonathan Douglas CBE, chief executive of the NLT, commented: “Both organisations are driven by an understanding of the power of books and reading, and the vital role they have in inspiring children and young people and supporting their lifelong literacy skills. We look forward to working together to showcase the incredible work of the National Literacy Trust, as we support and empower communities across the UK facing the biggest challenges with literacy.”

Alison Tweed, chief executive of Book Aid International, added: “We are thrilled to be chosen as The London Book Fair’s joint ’Charity of the Year’ for 2024, alongside the National Literacy Trust. In this our 70th year we want to say a huge thank you to UK publishers, with whose support we are able to send over one million books every year to people who would otherwise have nothing to read.

"Our new Generation Reader campaign aims to build on this work, giving 10 million young people across Africa access to life-transforming books. We look forward to meeting with publishers at London Book Fair this year, to explore how we can do even more to share the power of books around the world.”

Nigel Newton, chief executive of Bloomsbury Publishing and president of Book Aid International, said: “I hope that even more publishers will partner with Book Aid International this year and invite anyone interested in doing so to come and meet them at this year’s London Book Fair. LBF represents a great opportunity for connections and it was at last year’s fair that I introduced Daniel Gorman of English PEN to Alison Tweed of Book Aid International which led to the supply of thousands of books to PEN Ukraine for their ‘Unbreakable Libraries’ project.”

The announcement comes as the fair reveals other highlights from its seminar programme, including the "Tech Theatre". This seminar will cover topics such as BookTok and reading trends, AI-powered strategies for authors and publishers and augmented reality picture books for neurodivergent readers, among other things. A panel discussion around audio will also take place on the main stage this year, around the future of audio in publishing, global trends and the impact of AI, with speakers from PRH Audio Publishing Group, Spotify, Storytel and the Audio Publishers Association.

Meanwhile, the "Literacy Translation Centre" will return in 2024, featuring conversations around getting started as a literary translator. The seminar will explore new Nielsen data on literature in translation, bilingual poets and self-translation, as well as AI and literary translation. 

This year also sees the launch of the inaugural "Audio Alley", a dedicated space for audio exhibitors, which will feature solution and service providers within the audio sector. Located within the "Technology & Publishing Solutions" section of the fair, the Audio Alley will enable visitors to learn more about this growing sector, and will be bolstered by a series of aligned events on the "Tech Theatre" on Wednesday 13th March.

Gareth Rapley, director of LBF, said: “With less than nine weeks to go, preparations for London Book Fair are continuing apace. Our ’Seminar Programme’ is shaping up nicely, with the ’Tech Theatre’ and ’Literary Translation Centre’ promising to host fascinating conversations on the cutting-edge topics in the book industry—from BookTok and AI, to self-translation, and we’re delighted to give prominence to the audio industry, which has shown such strong growth and continues to show huge potential for expansion and innovation.”