TOPIC ON THE PAGE 1 SHOW DAILY FRIDAY, 18 October 2019 | FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR | publishingperspectives.com The Sound of Good News It was standing-room only at the Frankfurt Audio Summit on Thursday, as publishers in many countries see continued growth from the audiobook sector. Subscribe FREE to Publishing Perspectives: Visit publishingperspectives.com/subscribePUBLISHING and sign PERSPECTIVES up for our / daily FRANKFURT email BOOK news. FAIR 2019 2 PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES Letter from the Editor calling for 2020 to be the year that we, men and ABOUT THIS MAGAZINE women, demand that our executives examine their pay scales and start to make the necessary correc- Publishing Perspectives is the leading source tions to close the gap.” of information about the global book publishing Armstrong introduced the 50/50 By 2020 cam- business. Since 2009, we have been publishing paign, calling it “the next jump after #MeToo” and daily email editions with news and features from urging audience members to join. around the book world. Roanie Levy, CEO of Canada’s Access Copy- Our mission is to help build and contribute right and founding CEO of Prescient Innovations, to the international publishing community by concurred with Armstrong, citing North American offering information that publishing and media From left: Jorunn Sandsmark, managing director, statistics that show “other ways in which women professionals need to connect, cooperate, and Kagge Forlag; Roanie Levy, president and CEO, work together year-round and across borders. Access Copyright and Prescient Innovations; Mikyla are paid less in the publishing industry.” Bruder, publisher and global marketing chief, Amazon Female authors, she reported, earn 49 percent Publishing; Tracey Armstrong, president and CEO, of what their male counterparts make, while books Publisher: Hannah Johnson Copyright Clearance Center. (Image: Porter Anderson) by women from mainstream publishers were priced Editor-in-Chief: Porter Anderson on average 45-percent lower than books by men. Advertising Manager: Meike Eckern ne of the largest and most engaged audiences Mikyla Bruder, publisher and global marketing Contributors to this issue: for our Publishing Perspectives Talks at Frank- chief of Amazon Publishing, called attention to one O Mark Piesing furter Buchmesse was our Thursday (October 16) type of Catch-22 typically heard in editorial meet- Olivia Snaije discussion of “Women’s Leadership in Publishing.” ings at publishing houses, when the line, “We don’t Roger Tagholm And the debate was quickly on an economic foot- think the numbers are there” would be a response ing, one of the biggest rounds of applause being for to content proposed for underserved readerships. Photography: Johannes Minkus closing the gender pay gap between men and wom- And from Frankfurt’s Guest of Honor Norway, en in publishing. Kagge Forlag managing director Jorunn Sands- Distribution: Using data from the United States for 2019, mark said that the Scandinavian cultures have long Frank and Petra Hörnig Tracey Armstrong, CEO of Copyright Clearance been more purposefully conscious of such issues. Center, said that women in the workplace are paid What remains, of course, is a lot of work from Publishing Perspectives 78 cents for every dollar made by men. That’s true everyone in publishing to defeat unconscious bias a project of the Frankfurt Book Fair New York for women with MBAs. They’re making that much and move toward parity, making us think that this 30 Irving Place, 4th Floor less than men with MBAs. “And for women of col- topic may well be one we’d like to see in next year’s New York, NY 10003 USA or or members of under-represented minorities, it’s series of talks, too. Watch for it. • even worse,” she said, with “women making 60 per- cent of what men make doing the same job. “It’s a global epidemic,” Armstrong said. “The Sign up to receive to our daily email news at: Porter Anderson publishingperspectives.com/subscribe numbers might be slightly different from market to Editor-in-Chief market, but the trend is the same. And leaders are Event Highlights: Friday, October 18 Frankfurt Creative AI Conference Frankfurt Invitation Program Lecture: Navigating Hollywood Book-to- 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Get-Together Film Adaptations ARTS+ Salon, Hall 4.1 R71 12:30 – 2:00 p.m. 3:30 – 4:00 p.m. Hall 5.1 A116 THE ARTS+ Salon, Hall 4.1 R71 AI and virtual technology are embedding them- selves into the creative process and culture, foster- Meet the 20 publishers from Africa, Asia, Arab In this session, part of the “Book is a Film is a Game” ing a dialogue with the artist and redefining what countries, Latin America, and Eastern Europe who event, film producer and New Leaf director of film it means to be creative. But what is also being re- are participating in this year’s Frankfurt Invitation and television Pouya Shahbazian offers guidance defined and redrawn are the lines between fantasy Program. This program ensures that small publish- on how book publishers can most effectively work and reality, between what is real and what is “fake.” ers from many countries can attend the fair. with Hollywood and the film industry. Publishing Perspectives Talks: British Writers on Brexit South America in Translation Blockchain and Publishing 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. 10:30 a.m. — 11:30 a.m. Weltempfang Stage, Hall 4.1 B81 Hall 5.1 B110 International Stage, Hall 5.1 A128 The Brexit vote brought about a political and con- Writers from Argentina and Chile discuss why Three leading experts in blockchain development stitutional crisis and a deep division in British so- translation is indispensable as a path to creating will provide you with exactly what you need to ciety. Literature Across Borders brings together a global literary phenomena and a body of world lit- know about blockchain’s potential value to the panel of writers from England, Ireland, and Wales erature during this panel discussion organized by book publishing business, dismissing misconcep- who will offer their perspectives on the causes and the Agencia Argentina de Inversiones y Comercio tions and addressing concerns along the way. impact of Brexit. Internacional. PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES / FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR 2019 TOPIC ON THE PAGE 3 PUBLISHING PERSPECTIVES / FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR 2019 4 GUESTS OF HONOR Canada’s ‘Colorful Fabric’ at Frankfurt 2020 By Roger Tagholm voices, and I hope that the world will have a chance to discover these writ- ers as a result of the program.” anada promises to showcase its Kurtness talked about the im- C“Singular Plurality” when it be- portance of identity, and Guay- comes Guest of Honor at Frankfurt Poliquin highlighted literature’s 2020—and it is off to a cracking start ability “to absorb the point of view already as the driving force behind of the other,” something that is badly the initiative, Caroline Fortin, pres- needed in today’s world. ident of Canada FBM2020 and pub- During 2019 and 2020, the Can- lisher and vice-president of Montre- ada Council for the Arts (CCA) will al-based Groupe Québec Amérique, be responsible for the performing revealed at yesterday’s press confer- arts programming, complementing ence. the efforts of other partners. CCA “We set ourselves the target of is also responsible for managing having 200 works translated into Caroline Fortin (Image: Johannes Minkus) and coordinating a program that German, and I am proud to say that supports publishers by providing we are already nearing that goal,” she funding to translate Canadian works said. “Canadian literature is the sum to German. All genres—literary and of the diverse voices that reflect the star of our celebration in 2020, from names are less known international- non-literary—are eligible. The CCA ground swell of ideas that is Canada rising and emerging writers and il- ly were interviewed on stage yester- has launched three programs and today,” she continued. “Canada is lustrators to the highly acclaimed day: J.D. Kurtness, Lisa Moore, and approved support for more than eclectic and multicultural, and our and renowned authors. Canada will Christian Guay-Poliquin. Moore 35 performing and visual arts ini- differences are woven into this col- reveal powerful writing from all lit- is from Newfoundland and spoke tiatives, which will take place in 20 orful fabric that shows a nation that’s erary genres and from French, En- about the many small communities cities across Germany and Europe. growing and striving to push further glish, and Indigenous voices while on that island which each have their More than half of those projects will on all fronts, resulting in vibrant, still heralding the myriad of back- own dialects. “Their language has a be Canada focused. creative industries. grounds that represent our country, rhythm and power all its own, and The press conference also in- “This is reflective of today’s Ca- our ‘Singular Plurality.’” we have the ocean close by and this cluded some lovely cello playing by nadian literature, which more than Margaret Atwood will visit the ridiculous weather. We are close to indigenous musician Cris Derksen, ever, is bursting with new voices and fair on Saturday to lend her support the climate crisis, and all of this in- whose music evoked open spaces as perspectives that are reaching broad for the Guest of Honor program. forms my work. We have a lot of well as the interior places to which audiences. Our literature will be the Three participating authors whose diverse writers, a lot of indigenous literature takes us. • Spain’s New Translation Grants and Market Data Spanish is spoken by more than in 2021. Designed to increase aware- 570 million people (in Spain and ness of Spanish authors and litera- Latin America), and official languag- ture, the Acción Cultural Española es in Spain include Catalan, Basque, (AC/E), a public entity, is open to and Galician.