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Ever since I’ve been an author, a fixed point in the calendar has been the annual pilgrimage to the Olympia exhibition centre in Hammersmith for the London Book Fair – where publishers sell their latest titles to distributors, up-and-coming authors attend inspirational panel discussions from experts and – locked away behind an additional layer of security, agents take meetings with clients, publishers and producers.
But the entire literary elephant has packed its trunk and the circus is moving to Excel London from next year.
For the last time at Olympia, I attended the middle of the three-day event, learning, making connections, reaffirming existing relationships and covering the event as a journalist.
The first event was specifically targeted at people working in the children’s market, with the panellists including the authors Elle McNicoll, whose A Kind of Spark has been adapted by BBC TV, and Nathaniel Lessore, whose King of Nothing won last year’s Waterstone’s Prize.
With much of the publishing industry struggling with how to get children reading, against a backdrop of influencers trying to promote well-meaning messages, it was refreshing – and surprising – to hear McNicoll’s insightful take. Children’s books are not vegetables, she insisted, but should be seen as candy floss. “I’m an entertainer, not a teacher,” she insisted, stressing, “I’m just trying to make them happy, not to change their moral arc or make them become a different person.” She went on to note that “children just want a little naughtiness,” although you “can’t catch every fish in one net,” and – equally importantly – “never put an age limit on a book.”
Lessore was similarly enthusiastic about his process. He understands that children think visually and stressed that to get through to younger readers, authors have to make books as interesting as phones.
My own experiences diverged from his, though, when he advised budding writers, “Jump on Google and find an agent that suits you” – I’ve jumped on Google and…well…
The next panel discussion I attended was, rather optimistically, titled “from bookshelf to BAFTA” – but you get the idea. This enlightening event about the varying routes for books to transfer to TV or film told us – not unsurprisingly – that it’s not “one size fits all.”
Alice Pearse, from Netflix, described the “beautiful dance” between writers and the rest of the team. Holly Tonk, from HarperCollins, noted that a film had to be seen as a separate entity from the book and authors could relinquish creativity to the film makers who knew that medium best – the upshot being that you find new audiences who might otherwise never have found you.
But while the main event concentrated on the relationship between publishers and producers or – in this day and age – directly with the streamers, many deals are struck – on behalf of the authors – by their agents – at the kind of meetings I referred to above, hidden away from the rest of the Book Fair.
One such agent – as it happens, a fellow university alumnus of mine – Kate Nash, happened to be in the audience with me. Afterwards, she told me about how she’d recently sold the rights to her client Sean Watkin’s novel Black Water Rising to a producer.
Another author whose work is no stranger to being adapted to screens – both big and small – the Norwegian Jo Nesbø was “in conversation” at another event, partly promoting the upcoming Netflix crime series based on his Harry Hole character. For me, the greatest adaptation of his work will always be the astonishing 2011 thriller, Headhunters.
Much of the day was spent studying the competition, in the children’s books area of the Fair. But for me, the main attraction was saved for the end of a busy day – after a series of great support acts, the headliner was my annual London Book Fair catch-up with my own publisher, Graffeg – complete with daffodils at the reception desk of the Welsh stand. It was great to chat to Matthew, lovely to meet new team-member Rebecca and it felt constructive to discuss potential future collaborations.
In keeping with the theme of adapting the written word for the big screen, all I can say for now is to watch this space for the sequel…
