Canadian authors and publishers will feature at the FBF 2020 virtually at this year's 'Special Edition'
Initially planned for 2020, Canada’s physical presence as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair later this year has been postponed until 2021 due to the changed conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The committee organizing Canada’s presence, under the auspices of the Ministry of Canadian Heritage, reached an agreement with the book fair organizers and the subsequent Guest of Honour publishing industries to delay its physical appearance by one year.
Canada as the Guest of Honor for FBF will take part virtually in the Special Edition this year and has postponed its physical presentations to 2021
The countries scheduled to be FBF Guest of Honour in subsequent years – Spain, Slovenia, and Italy – agreed to postpone their presentations by one year to accommodate Canada’s move to 2021.
For 2020, Canadian Heritage and their partners are preparing virtual presentations to provide Canadian authors and publishers a strong presence at the upcoming online activities planned in parallel with this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, which will be held under special conditions 14-18 October.
Juergen Boos, Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair commented, “We would like to thank the Guest of Honour committees, publishers associations and the authorities in Spain, Slovenia and Italy who, out of solidarity with Canada, have agreed to postpone their appearances in Frankfurt for another year so that Canada will have the best possible opportunity to present its literature and culture in October 2021. At the same time, we are looking forward to all the digital activities which will be presented by our Canadian partners during FBF 2020. This year has presented us all with major challenges, and we’ve seen the international book community come together in response. This cooperation between confirmed Guest of Honour countries is just one of many examples.”
Frankfurt Book Fair’s ‘special edition’ will take place on 14-18 October 2020. The dates for 2021-2024 are as follows – 20-24 October 2021, Guest of Honour Canada; 19-23 October 2022, Guest of Honour Spain; 18-22 October 2023, Guest of Honour Slovenia; and, 16-20 October 2024, Guest of Honour Italy.
2023 promises an interesting ride for print in India
Indian Printer and Publisher founded in 1979 is the oldest B2B trade publication in the multi-platform and
multi-channel IPPGroup. While the print and packaging industries have been resilient in the past 33 months since the pandemic lockdown of 25 March 2020, the commercial printing and newspaper industries have yet to recover their pre-Covid trajectory.
The fragmented commercial printing industry faces substantial challenges as does the newspaper industry.
While digital short-run printing and the signage industry seem to be recovering a bit faster, ultimately
their growth will also be moderated by the progress of the overall economy. On the other hand book
printing exports are doing well but they too face several supply-chain and logistics challenges.
The price of publication papers including newsprint has been high in the past year while availability is diminished by several mills shutting down their publication paper and newsprint machines in the past four years. Indian paper mills are also exporting many types of paper and have raised prices for Indian printers. To some extent, this has helped in the recovery of the digital printing industry with its on-demand short-run and low-wastage paradigm.
Ultimately digital print and other digital channels will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future. For instance, there is no alternative to a rise in textbook consumption but this segment will only reach normality in the next financial year beginning on 1 April 2023.
Thus while the new normal is a moving target and many commercial printers look to diversification, we believe that our target audiences may shift and change. Like them, we will also have to adapt with agility to keep up with their business and technical information needs.
Our 2023 media kit is ready, and it is the right time to take stock and reconnect with your potential markets and customers. Print is the glue for the growth of liberal education, new industry, and an emerging economy. We seek your participation in what promises to be an interesting ride.
