London Book Fair Round Up

Find out more about our programme of children's book seminars at the London Book Fair 2012 - and listen to some audio recordings of the events

Last month, Booktrust were at the London Book Fair, where we were running a programme of children's book seminars for industry professionals as part of London Book Fair's Love Learning strand.

Our seminars kicked off on Monday morning with a lively discussion about the power of children's non-fiction in The World into Words, which brought authors Nicola Davis and Viv French together with librarian Jake Hope. Viv spoke compellingly about how narrative non-fiction is not merely a way of communicating information, but helps to stimulate children's imaginations, whilst Nicola pointed to the ways that high quality non-fiction helps make learning open-ended, allowing children to make connections for themselves. Discussions soon turned to how the trade could do more to support non-fiction, often treated as the 'poor relation' in comparison with children's fiction. Ideas included getting more non-fiction reviews in the press, introducing more prizes recognising the excellence in non-fiction and especially for publishers to allow non-fiction authors more freedom and space to be creative.

Teen authors Celia Rees and Nick Lake took to the stage next, alongside Guardian children's books editor Julia Eccleshare, for Growing Up Too Soon: Fiction that asks if teenagers are ready for the adult world, the first in a series of sessions exploring writing for young people. Celia got the session off to a lively start by pointing out the long-standing tradition of writing about the transitional adolescent years, citing Jane Austen's novels and Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles as classics with teenage protagonists that had they been published today might well have sat under the 'YA' umbrella. Nick Lake, whose crossover book In Darkness has been published for both teen and adult audiences, spoke engagingly about why the teenage years are particularly interesting for writers, and discussions also touched on the importance of young adult fiction to today's publishing market, including the impact of blockbusters such as Twilight and The Hunger Games.

Listen to an audio recording of Celia Rees and Nick Lake in conversation

Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson was one of our special guests on Tuesday, getting off our second day of seminars to a great start with an event to launch her new Laureate picture book promotion with Waterstones, which launched in stores on the same day. Alongside Melissa Cox, New Titles Buyer for Children's Books at Waterstones, and Booktrust's Marian Keen Downs, Julia explored the ten favourite picture books to share that she has selected for the promotion, ranging from classics such as Dogger by Shirley Hughes to new books by up and coming young author/illustrators such as Katie Cleminson's Otto the Book Bear. Find out more about Julia's promotion on the Children's Laureate website.

Booktrust's online writer in residence Bali Rai was our next special guest, heading up Express Yourself, a hugely engaging session with a group of four articulate young Londoners who came together to explore what young people want to see in books today. Ranging in age from 13 to 18, the four panelists gave us a down-to-earth, straight-talking insight into young people's views on reading, and what they expect from authors and publishers.  Our audience was excited by the opportunity to ask them questions about everything from how to engage teenage boys in reading through to their views on how contemporary young people are represented in books. Read more about the event and listen to an audio recording in Bali Rai's blog.

Julia Donaldson was back for Tuesday's final session, What's the Story: Listening to Deaf and Disabled Children which brought together authors, illustrators and experts to talk about books for deaf and disabled children with chair Alexandra Strick. The panelists discussed the importance of ensuring deaf and disabled characters are represented in books for children, not just so they can see themselves in the stories they read, but also so that hearing children have access to positive representations of deafness and disability. Author Joyce Dunbar spoke powerfully about the reality of publishing books for deaf children: 'the bottom line for publishers is commercial. Deafness and disability isn't commercial. It's not just that the deaf can't hear, it's that they aren't heard.' Yet the panellists also agreed that the publishing sector was becoming more aware of the need for stories for deaf and hearing impaired children, and that technology may open up many new opportunities. Read more about the event and listen to an audio recording on the Bookmark blog.

Wednesday's seminars began with a return to exploring books for older readers, with a panel discussion featuring three publishers with new Young Adult lists, chaired by John McLay of Bath Kids Lit Festival. Stella Paskins spoke on behalf of Electric Monkey, Egmont's new YA imprint, whilst Amanda Punter discussed Razorbill, Penguin's recently-launched YA list, and Sarah Odedina introduced Hot Key Books, a new list for 9-19 year olds from Bonnier. In spite of the challenges posed to traditional publishing by other entertainment brands, all three spoke enthusiastically about the opportunity to publish for teen readers, with Stella characterising young people as 'avid, loyal' readers who like to discover things for themselves and have a huge appetite for books. All three agreed on the importance of communicating directly with young people, citing digital channels as offering new ways to speak to readers, and Amanda outlined the success of Penguin's Spinebreakers site for teenagers, which now has thousands of users. Following the phenomenal success of paranormal romance and dystopia, the audience was keen to know whether the publishers could predict any new directions in writing for young adults, but Sarah expressed a deep suspicion of trends: 'I would avoid them like the plague.'

The seminar programme concluded with a fascinating discussion between two celebrated writers for young adults - award-winning author Mal Peet, whose most recent book is the acclaimed Life: An Exploded Diagram, and newcomer Moira Young, whose first book Blood Red Road won the Costa Award. Chaired by Jonathan Douglas of the National Literacy Trust, the wide-ranging discussion touched on everything from what distinguishes young adult books from writing for children or for adults, the role of literary prizes, and the popularity of dystopian fiction amongst teenage readers today.

Listen to an audio recording of Mal Peet and Moira Young in conversation:

Mal and Moira's conversation made a fitting conclusion to three days of entertaining, inspiring, informative and engaging discussions. We've been given plenty to think about by our speakers and we hope our enthusiastic audience left with plenty of food for thought too.

Find out more about what the Booktrust team got up to at this year's London Book Fair