27th February 2026
‘Loos, queues and brews’: Emma Lowe is ready to usher in a new-and-improved London Book Fair
The LBF director talks to Tom Tivnan about making big moves, building relationships and how human connection can help to sell books
R
unning an international book fair has a lot of moving parts, and doing it well requires someone who can juggle logistics and diplomacy, be as comfortable
talking to celebs and CEOs as they are with contractors and be a long-term strategist and a quick-on-the-feet short-term problem solver. True, says Emma Lowe, who will oversee her first London Book Fair (LBF) when Olympia’s doors open in just under a fortnight’s time – but she stresses that “my main job boils down to the nitty-gritty: it’s loos, queues and brews”. We meet at the Level 10 café at the
Tate Modern on a regrettably foggy day, with the St Paul’s cupola barely visible across the Thames. When Lowe arrives, she shows she can juggle, simultaneously winding up a meeting on her ear buds, greeting me and buying us hot chocolates. A pause for a full disclosure note: Lowe was once of this chapel, and my colleague for nine years. So I have seen her ably multi-task before. Once, she chaired a Zoom meeting and for a half an hour in the middle of it – without pausing or missing a beat – got up from her desk and conducted the school run. The point about “loos, queues and brews”
comes amid a segue where we talk about Zohran Mamdani – not entirely off-topic, as we were discussing US exhibitor numbers (the Americans are “back in force”). We decide that, despite all his socialist ideals, the New York City mayor will ultimately be judged by Big Apple residents on whether the garbage is collected and if the subway runs on time. Relevant here because, as Lowe explains: “Sure, a good bit of my time is about, say, reshaping the professional programme or meeting with people from the trade. But a lot is about making
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London Book Fair Special
Interview
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