Author: paragon

Publishers from Wales at the London Book Fair 2025

Written by paragon on 16 February 2025. Posted in News.

Twenty Welsh publishers will be at London Book Fair in Olympia for three days, 11-13 March, on Stand 2 A 109. The stand has been designed and sponsored by Publishing Wales/Cyhoeddi Cymru, with financial support from Books Council of Wales and the Welsh Government. Book samples and meeting spaces will be available for attendees to discuss their titles.

Publishers at the Fair will include Crown House Publishing, Graffeg, Literature Across Frontiers/Wales Literature Exchange, Seren Books, Dragon Press, Rily Publications, Atebol, Carreg Gwalch, The H’MM Foundation, Candy Jar Books, Diamond Crime, Honno, Iconau, Firefly, Folding Rock, University of Wales Press, Calon, Parthian, St David’s Press, Lucent Dreaming, Welsh Academic Press, Y Lolfa. Full details for the attending publishers are available here.

The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for the publishing industry and the UK’s No.1 book fair, defining the future of creative content. After 50 years, LBF has become an essential part of the international book trade calendar and is the pre-eminent Spring event of the publishing year. Exhibitors and visitors return year-on-year to develop relationships, gain insights and set the tone for the year ahead.

For further information, please contact post@cyhoeddi.cymru.

Publishers from Wales at Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2025

Written by paragon on 16 February 2025. Posted in News.

Five publishers from Wales will be at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Bologna, Italy, for four days from 31 March – 3 April, Hall 25, Stand B154. The stand has been designed and sponsored by Publishing Wales/Cyhoeddi Cymru, with financial support from Books Council of Wales and the Welsh Government. Publishers at the Fair will be Atebol, Crown House Publishing, Firefly, Rily Publications and Graffeg. Full details for the attending publishers are available here.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is an industry leading event that has succeeded in bringing together a unique and diverse global audience thanks to 61 years experience.

The result is the world’s premium copyright exchange hub when it comes to publishing, which also extends to current multimedia and licensing businesses for children’s stories, illustration, animation and related areas.

The world famous Illustrators Exhibition and industry recognized BolognaRagazzi awards are some of key pillars that make this event so special: BCBF is a unique mix of a cultural book show and an international rights business forum for all types of content for children.

For further information, please contact post@cyhoeddi.cymru.

Significant Funding Increase for Wales’ Publishing Sector Confirmed

Written by paragon on 16 February 2025. Posted in News.

Wales’ publishing sector will see a significant increase in Welsh Government funding compared to last year, bringing the sector’s overall funding for 2025 to 2026 back in line to 2023 to 2024 levels. The Welsh Government has today revealed an additional £272,000 is being made available to the publishing sector via the Books Council for Wales in its Final Budget.

Published last week and including an additional uplift for the wider arts and culture sectors, the new funding allocation for publishing is in addition to the uplift already announced in the recent draft budget for 2025 to 2026, bringing the total increase for next year to £392,000. This funding will be channelled through the Books Council of Wales (BCW) as an arms-length body who will distribute it to the publishing sector.

The Welsh Government also regularly provides the Books Council with additional funding to facilitate a Wales presence for publishers at major international events such as Frankfurt, where 18 Welsh publishers attended last year to promote their work to a global audience, and at London Books Fair also.

The Books Council has also received Welsh Government money for its New Audiences Fund, via Creative Wales. In the last 3 years £1.5 million has supported over 100 projects, created 117 new jobs and commissioned over 540 pieces of work with the aim of increasing diversity across the sector.

This support has been directed to an array of publishing outlets, including: Broken Sleep Books for a literary festival; ‘Writing Back Home’, an anthology of letters addressed to the writers’ homeland of Syria; news website Nation Cymru to nurture creative talent; and history magazine Hanes Byw to develop authors in their research fields.

Minister for Culture, Jack Sargeant, said: ‘This significant funding confirmation shows how serious we are about supporting Welsh publishing as a priority creative sector.

‘Despite the creative sector’s continued brilliance, I am all too aware of the challenges also being faced, and I welcome the strong and constructive relationship the Welsh Government has with the Books Council as we look to write a positive next chapter for publishing in Wales. Our Final Budget will no doubt bring good news for the wider sector too and is a positive step forwards from which we can build together.’