Pan Macmillan pulls out of London Book Fair

Pan Macmillan has announced it is pulling out of the London Book Fair this year following concerns about coronavirus.

It is the second major UK publisher to announce it will not attend the event following Hachette’s announcement earlier today.

Managing director Anthony Forbes Watson said: "With the ongoing spread of the Coronavirus and in particular the international nature of the developing picture, we have reflected together on the best course of action for our teams and have decided not to send anyone to the London Book Fair next week. The duty of care that we have to everyone who works for us and the news that so many of our customers and partners will no longer be attending the book fair have combined to lead us to this conclusion.

“Our intention is to reschedule as many of our planned meetings as possible through a virtual set up from our offices in Farringdon, to reduce risk to individuals on our teams whilst continuing to progress business as usual, acquire books, make sales and grow our business internationally."

Fair director Jacks Thomas said this morning that LBF would continue as scheduled.