Booksellers NZ proposes World Booksellers Conference for Dunedin in 2018

Booksellers NZ has made a formal proposal for the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) to hold its 2018 conference in Dunedin, New Zealand.

The two-day conference would be held in June or July and run under the theme ‘Bookselling in the Global Economy of the 21st Century’. Booksellers NZ expects the conference will attract 400 or more delegates from international booksellers associations and bookstores.

The proposal has the support of the New Zealand government, the Dunedin City Council and the New Zealand Book Council. Booksellers New Zealand CEO Lincoln Gould said its member stores are ‘far from mainstream economies’ yet have ‘continually striven to look outward and embrace the world of books and represent best practice in offering readers books of the world’. ‘The expanding global economy has enabled New Zealand booksellers to engage even more with the international community of authors and publishers,’ said Gould. ‘The topic of this conference is thus very close to our hearts.’

The proposed program includes sessions on the future of English-language bookselling in Asia; global industry trends and sales data; various bookselling programs in the US, UK and Germany; diversity in the book world; customers, marketing, recruiting and nurturing younger booksellers; and a trade show.

Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) CEO Joel Becker congratulated Booksellers NZ on its proposed conference. ‘We have been in close communication with Booksellers NZ and its CEO Lincoln Gould, and will keep our membership informed as plans take shape. I congratulate the initiative, and hope that it gives Australian booksellers an opportunity to engage with the global bookselling world,’ said Becker.

Dunedin was named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2014. For more information about the proposed conference, click here.

Category: Conferences Local news