Responsibility
I want to celebrate the unique ecosystem that has grown and that has created a way of capturing our knowledge, of presenting it to different readers in different ways. From the scientific journal to be read and challenged by leading experts in a field, to the non-fiction trade book bringing a complex subject to the general reader, to the beautifully illustrated children’s book bringing that same subject to a child who is only beginning to recognise the words on the page. The diversity of publishing means that you can read about almost any topic from a variety of angles. You can be challenged by complex ideas and then read another book that challenges those challenging ideas. You want to disagree – the publisher’s address is right there. They take responsibility for what they publish. Each bookshop or library is a treasure chest of humanity’s knowledge.
The reader and the book
There is nothing quite like the relationship between a book and its reader. For all the expertise that lies within our profession, from the author all the way to the bookseller or librarian, there is that unknown quality of how each individual reader will experience a book.
A reader hiding in a makeshift bunker as bombs shudder around them, may find a special kind of solace reading about the peaceful countryside in some far-off land. A reader in their cosy warm living room may feel a visceral empathy reading about a mother and a child reading together in a makeshift bunker in some war-ravaged country.
I think of all those readers, and all those book professionals living through war at the moment. May you find the strength to carry on reading, to carry on writing about your experiences, and to carry on publishing those experiences so that we might know your suffering and find the resolve to resist war in the future.
and Copyright
World Book and Copyright Day because if we have built this amazing ecosystem it is in no small part thanks to copyright, thanks to the way it empowers creators, it empowers those who invest in creators, it recognises that the creativity behind the book has value. A value that pirates and organised crime seek to steal; a value that large technology companies seek to mine without acknowledgement, without permission, without remuneration. Thank you to all those who have supported the creative sectors in our fight to get AI companies to license the amazing writing that feeds their writing tools.
A day for everyone
The beauty of world book and copyright day is that it belongs to so many people. From the author, to the proof reader, to the distributor, to the bookseller to the reader. To all my international publishing colleagues. To our partners and friends at EIBF, IFLA, IBBY, PEN International, IAF, EDItEUR, ISBN. To all of us in the book world.
Happy world book and copyright day!