sure there are enough toilets for exhibitors, that people can get through security quickly and that there is easy access to a cup of coffee. At 9am on[LBF’s opening day] there’ll be about 15,000 people coming through security and it is endless conversations with Olympia and our contractors before navigating that smoothly.” The biggest challenge has been the venue


and Olympia’s renovations, which have created cramped conditions and, more concerning, debris falling from the ceiling into parts of the International Rights Centre (IRC) at last year’s fair. This led to Lowe’s first big decision, a shift, beginning in LBF 2027, to east London’s Excel. This was not a surprise to most exhibitors, as Lowe had been talking about it for about six months – first to the LBF advisory board, then on a charm offensive in meetings with publishers, trade bodies and agencies, plus running frequent visits to Excel for potential exhibitors. “My job is being a fixer, but there are some


things I can’t fix about Olympia,” Lowe says. “I can’t fix the number of loos we’ll have available. I can’t fix the number of concession points. I can’t fix that we lost 8,000 square metres of space, the size of the Grand Hall, and we’ll never get that back. I know people remember the last time [LBF’s somewhat disastrous 2006 at Excel] but this is not the same Excel. The transport is better, the food is better, and we’ll get to pick our own carpet.” (The last point is tongue-in-cheek but not quite a joke: it references the shocking yellow carpet at that Excel LBF 20 years ago, which many complained about.)


Olympian task Undoubtedly Olympia-related, LBF 2026 has had some dropouts. Canongate announced it would not be taking its usual stand but setting up shop in a local café. There have been a handful of other, more discreet non-exhibitors, including transatlantic behe- moth WME, which will not take its typical complement of tables in the IRC (though its staff will be attending the show and the agency is throwing its usual fair-opening bash in central London). “It is a disappointment,” Lowe says about


the no-shows. “I’m fond of [Jamie Byng], I really like [Canongate publisher and


LBF 2026 key events


Keynote: Tom Weldon 10th March, 10.00, Main Stage An interview with the Penguin Random House UK CEO kicks off the Main Stage programming.


commercial director] Jenny [Fry]; it’s a shame they aren’t coming to play. But I didn’t panic, as the conversation is bigger than one year, and it is about long-term relationships LBF needs to have with publishers and agencies. Look, [those not exhibiting] are all still coming, they’re just not in the hall. We have to get them back in the tent. I took Jamie to Excel a week or so ago and he was full of ideas, he’s exactly the kind of energy we want at the fair. And if we can’t accommodate that kind of energy, we’re not doing our jobs properly.”


A


significant task has been making sure those inside the hall are informed, thus a reshaping of the professional programme. Though, the first principle starts


(again) with managing queues. Last LBF had a waiting-in-line system outside of the seminars, which made cramped aisles more crowded. That has been dispensed with, and a reshuffle of the IRC and the stages, Lowe believes, will have the double benefit of making the agents’ space self-contained and the seminars more accessible.


experience with the Gruffalo might not be with the book, but a theme park ride. So, how can we reach those readers when that is their starting point?”


Poacher and gamekeeper When Lowe officially opens the show, she reckons it will be “conservatively, my 70th” international book fair. A marketing role at LBF was her first proper job after studying Italian and French at the University of Bath, and spending a year in Florence followed by another in Paris post-graduation. She “completely fell into” LBF as she was looking for something in events and finished her first LBF tour as group sales manager. At The Bookseller, she was director of publisher relations, which included having a big hand in making the Nibbies what they are today. She then moved to publishing e-commerce firm Glassboxx before switching to head of events at HarperCollins. A common- ality of all these roles is at least part of each revolved around book fairs, on both sides – she has sold stands, she has set them up. She has also been a book trade insider,


If we want to be producing the best books in the future, presence and human connection have to continue – and that’s why book fairs are important


There are the usual CEO chats, featuring


turns from Penguin Random House UK’s Tom Weldon, Pan Macmillan’s Joanna Prior and Audible’s Bob Carrigan. New wrinkles include an inaugural narrator of the fair (Ray Porter), a huge tranche on books-to- screen, a first inclusion and accessibility hub and a “heavy ministerial presence” largely tied into the National Year of Reading. Lowe says that if there is an overarching theme to the programme, it is “about how the industry can reach the readers where they are. That, of course, means film, TV, video games, audio. But I use this example a lot: a person’s first


Joanna Prior 11th March, 10.00, Main Stage The Pan Macmillan CEO will argue the industry is obsessed with the wrong issue: the reading crisis, not AI, is the real concern.


Audio as an Experience 10th March, 13.00, Tech Theatre A dive into multi-cast recordings and other tech enhancements of audiobooks, with a panel including the inaugural LBF narrator of the day, Ray Porter.


something that her Nottingham Forest manager-esque succession of predecessors (Lowe is the fourth LBF director since 2022) were not. Does that help? “It’s a blessing and a curse. The blessing, and I can say this for our whole team, is that we are plugged in and can think about what publishing really needs. And we understand the nuances; my predecessors might not have quite understood why it is so important to get the IRC absolutely right so those 30-minute back- to-backs can happen. But I do feel the weight of expectation. Since I’ve taken this on, so many have said: ‘Oh, it’s so nice we finally have somebody from publishing.’ Which is nice. But it also means: ‘Don’t fuck it up.’” Still, she is optimistic for 2026, and beyond:


“I get asked a lot now about the future of book fairs. Yes, we are all on 101 Teams calls or Zooms a day, but you and I are talking face- to-face now because you often get a better result if people are present. And if we want to be producing the best books in the future, that presence and human connection has to continue – and that’s why book fairs are important.”


Bookshops to Baftas 11th March, 10.30, Main Stage On the state of screen adaptations today, with Netflix’s UK manager of scripted series Alice Pearse and Tribeca Enterprises boss Rebecca Glashow.


AF Steadman 12th March, 12.00, Main Stage The Skandar creator concludes LBF’s authors- of-the-day stream.


25


London Book Fair Special


Interview


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