NEWS
Horace Bent At BCBF 2019
Bent's Notes Horace Bent @horacebent
The conference hall connoisseur’s book fair of choice returns with its usual mix of pasta, prosecco and, er, laissez-fair attitude to planning
From Brexit blues, to Bologna queues...
B
uongiorno, ragazze! Come stai? Aſter the grey drudgery that is Olympia, and Brexit-benighted Britain in general, here we are in Bologna, the book fair of gelato-filled dreams. Heck, BCBF makes Horatio Maldini Buffon Bent so happy that I’ll even endure Ryanair to get here. (I lent my Gulfstream, a.k.a. Bent Force One, to Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson so they could drop pro-EU leaflets over Parliament Square before jeting to Bologna for their Gruffalo 20th-anniversary shindigs.)
In tomorrow’s magazine Horace delves deeper with his exploratory research into the children’s publishing scene by scheduling lunch meetings on the hour, every hour, from 10.30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Buon appetito!
10 2nd April 2019
Things kicked off, as they usually do, at the usual do: at the Royal Carlton, with the annual PRH soirée hosted by Der Mann in Schwartz himself, Markus Dohle, channeling his inner Johnny Cash (or Darth Vader) in all black. Dohle’s name badge—self-penned, as that’s the kind of laid-back vibe at PRH, kids—just said “Markus”. Fair do’s: in publishing terms, he is on the Madonna, Cher and Rihanna level of one-name celebs. I was told on very good authorit that Markus is soon, a la Prince in the ’90s, to re-name himself as a symbol. A dollar sign, presumably. For the lulz, I scribbled “J K Rowling” on my name badge and for the rest of the part acted as if I were the author, riffing on the sexual peccadillos of Harry Poter characters in order to get every Millennial on Twiter’s knickers in a twist. Hagrid, incidentally was really into knicker-twisting. And Dobby would oſten use a Nimbus 2000 to… well, I had beter leave it there. Anywho, over in the corner was
ally, d
Barbara Marcus huddling with Monty Bhatia, long-time pals and now colleagues in the ever-expanding PRH empire. Hmmm, where was Francesca Dow, I wondered? Ah, there she was in another corner rocking a colour-clash ensemble
000 ty
THE HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN’S EDITORIAL TEAM HARD AT WORK IN BOLOGNA
so stunning I whispered “yaaas, kween”. I spied another sartorial star, too, in a leather jacket and sporting Jackie O in the ‘70s sunglasses. Who was it? Closer inspection revealed it to be none other than Ann-Janine Murtagh, perhaps going incognito at another publisher’s part… by dressing like a total badass. Day one of the fair had its usual, er, hiccups. It makes one wonder
Hagrid, incidentally, was really into knicker- twisting. And Dobby would often use a Nimbus 2000 to... well, I had better leave it there
needs a bit of help about, on the morn know, when it’s rea than two people s entrance on ha
how a nation that made aqueducts which still work 2,000 years aſter construction, and created the building blocks for Western law, can be so bad at organisation? Actually, that is grossly unfair: anyone who saw the Azzurri’s 2-0 defensive masterclass against Finland over football’s recent international break knows the Italians know a thing or two about organisation. So maybe it is just this fair that needs a bit of help. Here’s a wee suggestion, BCBF: how about, on the morning of the opening day of the fair—you know, when it’s really, really busy?—you have more than two people scanning exhibitor badges at the main entrance? That could help. Or, if we’re hellbent on having only two staffers, maybe make sure that their scanners work? Heck have a spare scanner or two! Or three! Or more! Just a thought… Ah, who cares about these quib-
bles? It’s Bologna! The sun is shining! See you in S’wine bar later, yeh?
PRH CHIEF MARKUS DOHLE’S NEW LOOK FOR SPRING/SUMMER 2019
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