deilibri

Last week saw the London Book Fair bid adieu to Olympia, London.

Sadly this is the last LBF in this location as it moves to Excel in March 2027. A retrograde step in my view from a multi hall complex in Central London to a soul-less, characterless metal box located far out in the in the docklands. So it’s not surprising that many who have attended the Fairs over the year – visitors and exhibitors alike – will be feeling somewhat nostalgic. Personally I liked Earls Court.

Olympia has hosted more of the 54 book fairs than any other venue, but changes to the halls and reductions in space has meant some inconveniences. This year it was useful to find the Main Stage on one level with the Tech Centre and the Author Lounge right above, so there was a lot less dashing from one hall to the other side of the venue.

However, the LBF has always provided – and will continues to host – a wide range of book/publishing related events to tempt visitors. Whether it’s new titles – fiction and non-fiction, children’s, fascinating author interviews, author readings, audio books, illustration or celebrity guests, and of course AI.

The result from this year has been some very interesting, thought-provoking segments I’ll be covering over the next week or so. Above all the London Book Fair is all about books, reading, learning & enjoyment, but I for one will miss Olympia.

Last Friday, February 6, marked 21 years since the sad and unexpected death of Rudi Holzapfel, good friend and poet.

Rudi was born in Paris. His father, Rudolf, was an art expert and Shakespeare scholar, while his mother, Mona Trew from the Folies Bergères, was a dancer with the original Bluebell Girls. Rudi had spent some time with relatives in England to learn English before following the family to California. In 1956 he was sent to Dublin to study at Trinity College where he did his M.Litt. on Irish Literary Magazines linked to the fight for Irish Independence.

In 1966 he started work on his Ph.D. at Leeds University on the Irish poet James Clarence Mangan, while working with me in the local bookshop. He also set up an antiquarian book business in which I helped, printing and compiling book lists. In 1989 he decided to return to his beloved Ireland where he took up his work again on his Mangan thesis. He kept on writing and publishing poetry, and dealing in second hand books from his Poor Sinner bookshop in Tipperary, Eire.

He died of cancer on 6 February, 2005, in Bonn, Germany. His final work, A Tiger Says His Prayers, was published posthumouslyin 2006 by Sunburst Press. His website contains a booklist of his poetry collections and audio files of Rudi reading extracts from some of his many poems. You can find the link here