NEWS


Horace Bent Bent’s Notes


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Bent’s Notes Horace Bent @horacebent


Scenes of jubilation—OK, contentedness—flooded the fair on Wednesday, until PRH’s leader brought delegates to tears with a tale of woe


Dohle’s tale of tragedy dims fairgoers’ spirits


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hisper this, but I am rather enjoying Frankfurt 2021. Oh, I do miss the hubbub of a rammed and sweat Frankfurter Hof of FBFs in-the-Before-Times. But there are no taxi queues this year, no inordinate wait for the loos, we are mercifully free from the Hachete stand’s incessant,


headache-inducingly bright digital display, and in the halls the aisles are wide enough to drive Andrew Wylie’s ego through. Or at the very least, his advances. I jest, nothing could be that wide. (I’m also jesting about the Jackal, as I gather he isn’t here and therefore is unlikely to see this.) Plus, everyone is just so happy to be here, aren’t they? I mean, BolognaBookPlus’ Jacks Thomas was almost skipping into the halls yesterday. But maybe that’s less about being at Frankfurt and more to do with her new bosses being chilled-out entertainers/Italians, not an 800-pound corporate gorilla. Sure, the stand part is a rare beast this year, and I will dearly miss doing the usual minesweeping for white wine and Cool Ranch Doritos at the ever-popular IPG shindig. But the hospitable Canadian Guest of Honour folk have been filling in for Bridget Shine and Co. “We have been preparing this for a while,” House of Anansi boss Semareh Al-Hillal drily notes.


And if you are going over to the Canada collective stand, here are some pointers regarding what to say to get some conversations started. “I kind of think of you guys as the 51st state.” “Say a-boot again, please.” “I’ve always thought that selling Canadian rights to a US publisher is the way to go”. “What do you mean Ryan Reynolds isn’t American?”


r Pictured


Penguin Random House chief Markus Dohle hailed The Bookseller Daily as an “inspirational, unputdownable” tome


But there has, of course, been some desperately sad news coming out of this fair, with Markus Dohle’s confession that Penguin Random House has—steel yourself—lost some market share. A tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions!


When Dohle-mite started talking about this yesterday there was not a dry eye in the Agora. One inconsolable indie publisher mutered: “I wish he could take some of my market share.”


Never fear, Markus, old Horace is on the case. I’ve set up a GoFundMe to help you scrape some of that market share back (or, I don’t know, purchase Von Holtzbrinck), and I’ve got #prayforPRH trending. In all seriousness, it was great to see the boss of the


biggest trade publisher showing up IRL to give FBF a bit of a shot in the arm—and he has an enviable taste in book fair dailies #justsaying. As Frankfurt draws to a close I’m prety sure I haven’t caught Covid, though concerningly the symptoms overlap with those of a raging hangover. All in all, a successful return to the Messe. Roll on Bologna and LBF in 2022. We are back, bitchez.


06 21st October 2021


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