24 publishing houses from Turkiye participated in the “London Book Fair”, one of the most important meeting points of the worldwide publishing and copyright sales industry.
In the “London Book Fair”, which was held for the 52nd time this year at the Olympia London fairground in London, the capital of England, the “Turkiye” stand opened under the auspices of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as well as the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) stand with 14 participants.
10 publishers from Turkiye individually attended the fair for copyright and work sales negotiations.
Turkiye’s Ambassador to London Osman Koray Ertas, ITO Vice Chairman of the Board Mehmet Develioglu, Ahmet Aldemir, Deputy Director General of Libraries and Publications, Ministry of Culture and Tourism and London Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) Director Mehmet Karakus, as well as ITO board members and writers attended the book fair.
“Turkiye exhibits strong participation in the fair every year”
In his speech at the event, Ambassador Ertas said that the London Book Fair is one of the most important fairs in the field of publishing, and that Turkiye has a strong participation in the fair every year with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and ITO.
Ertas said, “We are trying to explain the Turkish publishing tradition, literature and culture to the whole world on this important occasion.”
Mentioning that a publishing house participating in the fair from Turkiye was deemed worthy of an award this year, Ertas congratulated the publishing house for the award.
At the end of his speech, Ambassador Ertas conveyed his thanks to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and ITO for their participation in the fair.
“ITO also participated in the MIPTV Fair in France”
ITO Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors Develioglu also stated that before the London Book Fair, they took part in the MIPTV Fair held in Cannes, France, and showed a wide participation.
Stating that they represent Turkiye in a different dimension at the London Book Fair every year, Develioglu said:
“We will discuss together how we can better represent and move forward the cultural and commercial life of our country in unity and solidarity. We will make our preparations for the next period for the better. This is how we always look. Our ambassador is also doing serious work on this issue and supports us. We are now trying to act together with this power.”
Develioglu wished the publishers participating in the fair to sell more, and thanked Ambassador Ertas and the publishing companies.
“We see fairs as an opportunity”
Aldemir, Deputy Director General of Libraries and Publications of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, also touched upon the activities carried out by the Ministry in the context of the development of both library and publishing life in Turkiye.
Pointing out that the ITO works in coordination with the Ministry in the civilian leg of these works, Aldemir said:
“There are veterans of this sector, there are publishers’ professional associations. About 14 companies determined by publisher professional associations, our publishing house participated in the book fair. Our publishers came here with the cooperation of two stakeholder institutions, ITO and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism General Directorate of Publications. We see fairs as an opportunity in terms of developing our broadcasting life and promoting it to the world. At this point, as the Ministry, we are trying to attend around 12-13 fairs annually.”
The London Book Fair, held on April 18-20 this year, is expected to host 1700 exhibitors and 25 thousand professional visitors from approximately 60 countries.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz