Book world: focus shifts global

Publishing coverage has swung from one March fair in London to a wider map of rights trading, translation and cross-border dealmaking in April. (publishingperspectives.com) The London Book Fair ran March 10 to 12 at Olympia London, and organizers told Publishing Perspectives that registrations were in line with past years after roughly 30,000 people attended the 2025 edition. The 2026 show was also the last at Olympia before a planned move to ExCeL London in 2027. (publishingperspectives.com) By Monday, April 13, the center of attention had shifted to Italy, where the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, BolognaBookPlus and the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids opened for a four-day run through April 16. Publishers Weekly’s day-one program highlighted panels on licensing, translation, artificial intelligence and audiobooks alongside the opening ceremony for guest of honor Norway. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com) (publishersweekly.com) Bologna has become a major checkpoint for international children’s publishing, not just an illustration showcase. Publishing Perspectives said the 2025 fair drew 33,318 professionals, 1,577 exhibitors and participants from 95 countries. (publishingperspectives.com) The business underneath that shift is rights: the sale of translation, territory, audio, screen and other licenses that let one book travel into many markets. Frankfurt’s 2025 fair said its Literary Agents and Scouts Centre and Publishers Rights Centre had 591 tables booked in advance, with rights dealers from 357 agencies and publishers in 33 countries. (buchmesse.de) The market data points the same way. The Federation of European Publishers said in October 2025 that exports rose to 20.3 percent of European book turnover, while print still accounted for 82.9 percent of sales and audiobooks reached 4.2 percent. (internationalpublishers.org) That helps explain why trade coverage is following deals across borders instead of staying fixed on one United Kingdom event. Publishing Perspectives describes itself as a news outlet for the international publishing industry and, on its April 13 home page, its latest items ranged from Nigeria’s illustration scene to China’s children’s market and court fights over reading in the United States. (publishingperspectives.com) (internationalpublishers.org) London still matters as the first major stop on the yearly calendar, and its 2026 rights center sold out, according to Publishing Perspectives. But the spring conversation now runs quickly from London to Bologna and then on toward Frankfurt, where the largest global rights marketplace posts its numbers each October. (publishingperspectives.com) (buchmesse.de) On April 13, that meant the trade’s lens was no longer pointed mainly at West London. It was on the international routes books take after the first rights meeting ends. (publishingperspectives.com)