Meetings with buyers, conferences and presentation of new products will be virtual
Liber 20 will be held in digital format to reactivate foreign trade in Spanish books
This year the Liber will be digital. In response to the current situation and international restrictions on travel, the International Book Fair promoted by the Spanish Publishers’ Federation (FGEE) will be held from 27 to 29 October through a virtual platform with the aim of helping the sector to recover its commercial momentum, especially abroad. Organised by Fira de Barcelona, the new proposal brings together the presentation of new products and publishing collections by over 200 exhibitors and 400 publishing houses, with business meetings with hosted buyers and prescribers from over 60 countries, as well as meetings with different Spanish professionals from the book world. Also included in this online environment are the Liber Professional Workshops.
In this way, Liber, the benchmark international professional trade fair for books in Spanish, is transformed and adapted to the situation generated by Covid 19 with a new concept that will bring together professionals from the entire book value chain in one digital environment, generating business opportunities both inside and outside Spain, knowledge and sectoral debate, as well as interesting commercial contacts.
Miguel Barrero, the President of the FGEE and the Liber Organising Committee, stresses the importance of the event for the sector: “Liber allows us to establish and maintain contact with clients and prescribers both in Spain and in international markets, especially in Latin America. The current circumstances resulting from the pandemic have made us adapt the fair so that, mainly, it continues as a commercial meeting point for Spanish editions with prescribers, distributors, librarians, booksellers and customers for which we will have a powerful platform. In addition, we will continue to hold professional conferences that will be able to be followed virtually, which will allow us to exchange opinions and experiences resulting from the current situation.
This new format, which shortens distances thanks to technology, will make it possible to expand contacts and interactions on an international level to make the publishing business more dynamic. In this way, the FGEE works to enhance the relationship between its invited buyers by means of its internationalisation programme, which involves the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Economic and Foreign Trade Offices of the Secretary of State for Trade, ICEX Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade and Exports, the Catalan Government and the Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre (CEDRO in its Spanish initials). The Priority Interest Prescribers Program (PICE) is also being finalised with the help of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) to achieve the maximum number of online business meetings at Liber.
Likewise, the organisation intends to attract to this virtual edition of Liber an important number of national professionals, interested in discovering and acquiring the latest developments and books from the editorial production in different genres and themes, as well as in participating actively in the scheduled Professional Workshops and webinars.
Barcelona, September, 8th 2020
Maria Dolores Herranz
Press Office Fira de Barcelona
Tel. 34 932332541
mdherranz@firabarcelona.com
Gerardo Miguel
FGEE Press Department
Tel. 34 91 576 52 50
prensa@fge.es