My London Book Fair: Meryl Halls

I think I must have been to more than 30 LBFs. I don’t really recall the first, but I do remember many years when I was responsible for our stand build. I’d hire a van, drive it to the office, load up all the stuff and drive it over to Olympia or Earls Court. It took days, it felt like—and one year I misjudged the length of the transit van and had a bumpy mishap coming out of a parking space…

I still feel a tremendous sense of relief from the fact that we can gather again, and I’m a huge fan (as anyone at the BA will tell you!) of meeting up in real life. The serendipitous nature of LBF is always fun, and having so many people in the same place at the same time is an opportunity we still feel lucky to have. It’s tiring, of course, but for us being able to gather with so many booksellers in one place is very important—a real joy.

I am proud of bringing new booksellers to LBF, so our Hosted Bookseller Programme is always fun to work on. The first LBF for a new bookseller can be overwhelming: it’s not necessarily easy to navigate and a lot of bigger publishers are not set up to see UK indies, so it’s important the BA is there to help them. We created a Beginner’s Guide to London Book Fair this year, which has been viewed many times on our new BA Learning Skills Hub. We also hold our a.g.m. at the fair, so that’s a chance to bring members up to speed with what the BA, Batch and National Book Tokens have been up to over the past year.

We’ve been having a Hosted Bookseller Party for a number of years, and it’s always a highlight—even when it was in an incredibly overheated basement pub on an unseasonably warm April day…

I’ll never forget the year we launched Books Are My Bag and decided—who knows why—to create a (very heavy) 10ft-tall bag emblazoned with the logo. Getting that in and out of Olympia is not something I want to live through again. I also recall the year my father-in-law died, having to go to the fair on the day we got the news; I realised, meeting colleagues and friends in the aisles, how very kind and supportive my professional network was.

I always enjoy meeting colleagues who are part of the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF).We expanded the reach of EIBF with the RISE Bookselling project, and have been bringing booksellers together from across the world since last summer. It’s a privilege to see people from the wider, global bookselling sector.

My favourite post-fair place is the great relief of climbing into my own bed when I finally get home! But there’s also a lovely restaurant in Hammersmith called Brackenbury Wine Rooms—great food, lovely atmosphere.

My advice is go into LBF with a feeling of mild apprehension and then relish the enjoyment of the actuality of seeing everyone again. Also, for every glass of wine, have a glass of water.