On Tuesday, London Book Fair organizers announced that the mid-March show would go on as scheduled. “They are keeping calm and carrying on,” Andrew Albanese says.
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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This week, cases of COVID-19 – the coronavirus that originated in China earlier this winter and now threatens to become a global pandemic – flared up across northern Italy. In response, organizers of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair decided to move the show from late March to early May.
Bologna typically hosts 1,400 exhibitors and around 30,000 professional visitors, according to Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer. What fraction of those visitors will reschedule their visits to Italy remains an open question, though he expects the fair will take a substantial hit.
“Of course, it sounds like fair organizers really didn’t have a choice given the current virus outbreak in Italy,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
“Giunti, Italy’s largest bookseller and one of the country’s largest publishers, also closed its Milan offices this week, sending away employees to work from home,” he reports.
In the United Kingdom, the virus has remained rare. On Tuesday, London Book Fair organizers announced that the mid-March show would go on as scheduled. “They are keeping calm and carrying on,” Albanese says.
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
