Exhibitors pronounced the Cape Town Book Fair a great success on the closing day of the fair yesterday. Sales were better than expected, they had made valuable contacts in Africa and internationally and they would return next year, many of the publishers and authors said.

33 488 people visited the fair and there were 273 exhibitors. More than 200 journalists attended.

"On the Saturday we sold more books than on any previous day at the fair in the past - the visitors seemed very serious about books," said Claudia Regnart, corporate office director of the giant Pearson group, which owns companies including Maskew Miller Longman. "Then, on Sunday, we outsold even the Saturday. And people turned out in droves at our awards ceremony, even though it was at 5:30 on the Sunday evening."

Business was "very good" for Wits University Press, too, said publisher Veronica Klipp. "There were lots of sales and all of our author events were very well attended," she said.

"It's been fantastic," said Zimbabwe-based Tainie Mundondo, of the African Publishers Network. Twelve Africa publishers brought to the fair by the CTBF and the Goethe-Institut in a drive to develop the fair as a gateway to African publishing. "Trade Day was extremely beneficial, for the networking and what we learnt. The session on digital publishing, for example, was very helpful." 

Mohamed al Shehhi, head of publishing at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, said the fair had been "quite an exciting event for us".

"We've bought African books for our national library and are looking for agents to sell our books too," he said. "We're now negotiating rights to have books translated into Arabic - we've signed a deal with a Korean publisher to have 120 of their titles translated. We'll be here again next year."

Naveen Kishore of India-based Seagull Books said he liked the "intimate" setting, which gave sellers direct contact with buyers. "It's good to get a sense of what buyers think of your books," he said. "We are starting an Africa list, and we ended up doing nice business. I like the size of the fair, and it's really well organised."

This was the fifth anniversary of the fair, which was supported by the Department of Arts and Culture and Mappp-Seta check. The latter facilitated the participation of small publishing houses from South Africa.

CTBF director Claudia Kaiser said the book fair organisers had gone all out to organise events that would benefit as many groups as possible. "There was a special Trade Day for those in the industry, sessions for children, and a literacy campaign reaching out to those who could not attend. It was a huge, and wonderful effort. We're delighted at how it all turned out. Thanks to all those who worked day and night, for weeks before the fair, to take care of every little detail."

With more than 240 events, the fair offered serious debates as well as literary and light-hearted discussions. For the first time, the fair reached out to underprivileged areas by setting up Reading and Learning Rooms with its partner organisations.

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Issued on behalf of the Cape Town Book Fair by HWB Communications

queries contact:

Claudia Kaiser

Director Cape Town Book Fair

Email: Claudia@capetownbookfair.co.za

Sadika Ahmed

Sales and Exhibitions Manager

Telephone: +27 21 418 5493

Jo-Anne Smetherham

HWB Communications

Email: jo@hwb.co.za

Telephone: 084 254 1616