A little late reporting this, but just some brief comments on a great London Book Fair. Fascinating to see the digital section continuing to eat up more and more floor space. PEN, as usual, hosted a great range of interviews, but sometimes difficult to hear with the Russians opposite trying to shout down the speaker for their own benefit.
Always a delight to talk to Louise Jordan of the Writers’ Advice Centre for Children’s Books. She’s a mine of information & comment. Always keen to meet new people so well worth potential writers checking her website www.writersadvice.co.uk This has nothing to do with the never-ending bowl of chocolates she had on her stand!
Can there be a market for all the books on display in the Children’s Zone. Judging by visitor interest and the packed talks in the Children’s Innovation Theatre, certainly.
Swedish Made
It’s always interesting to talk with overseas publishers – in this case Fill and Tell AB over from their offices in Sweden. Stand manager Katrine Konar introduced me to Låba – a wonderful little character who endeared himself to me straight away.
These little interactive books, featuring Fredrik Einvall’s illustrations, were magic. Perhaps a distributor over here will find him quirky enough to take on board. Let’s hope their visit to LBF 2013 was worthwhile and we see them all back again next year.
Booki Reader
Watch out for this 8″ touch-screen e-reader aimed at 2 to 6 year olds. It should be hitting the marketplace in September. Shaped like a bear it includes voice recording and comes with 30 titles pre-installed. It’s Android based with 8Gb of flash memory check out www.bookiworld.com
Cup Cake Mania
Our insatiable appetite for cup cakes brought eager visitors to Make Believe Ideas stand who were promoting Camilla the Cupcake Fairy as well as an enchanting Mouston Abbey book . Their spring catalogue features some amazing sticker books complete with carrying handles!
Fairies Jane & Hannah tempt visitors to the stand with freshly made cup cakes decorated while-u-wait.
deilibri 