London Book Fair 2024 - 214/2024

Gibraltar Cultural Services' participation at the London Book Fair has been described as fruitful and interesting, with lots of networking and literary opportunities explored. Gibraltar Cultural Services, on behalf of the Ministry for Culture, hosted a stand for the first time, with support from members of the Gibraltar National Book Council, authors, poets, illustrators, and others working in the industry.

Representatives from Gibraltar House London were also involved to help promote Gibraltar as the dynamic destination it is.

The three-day event held at Olympia London stimulated interesting discussions with other writing communities and book councils, publishers, translators, and writers. Author contacts have been made, ideas for workshops and panel discussions are being actively pursued, and a variety of initiatives are being explored due to connections made. Opportunities for the Library to be affiliated with international awards, and exchanges and residency opportunities for writers are also being considered.

Gibraltar's Llanito voice attracted interest from translators, authors and other visitors to the Fair, with many enquiries made aimed at learning more about the particularity of our literary voice and Gibraltar stories. Meetings were held with representatives from the British Council, Welsh Council, Maltese Council, publishing houses and Yoto Carnegie Prize organisers amongst many others, to learn from established groupings and explore ways to benefit our writing communities.

The seminar programme, which is part of the Fair, provided interesting debate, delivered by international industry professionals who tackled issues relating to the latest challenges faced and other information relevant to the literary scene. Participants dipped into topics of bilingualism, promotion across platforms, reading for pleasure and illustration, to highlight a few. The occasion also served as an ideal platform for the Gibraltar representatives to connect over common themes and discuss the use and form of Llanito.

ENDS