The University of Antwerp and Boek.be are proud to announce the third Boek.be-chair, an annual lecture on current developments in the book business, on Thursday the 20th of May 2010 at 7 PM
Antwerp University, City Campus, Lange Sint-Annastraat 7, BE-2000 Antwerp

Professor Claire Squires (Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication) will speak about

BOOKS WITHOUT BORDERS? Readers, Writers and Publishers in the Global Literary Marketplace.

Mr. Koen Clement (WPG Publishing Group) will comment on the lecture.

Registration is possible through 10 May 2010, and costs 25 Euro.
Send an e-mail to info@boek.be and pay the registration fee into the following account number:
001-1898328-17 of Boek.be, Te Boelaerlei 37, BE-2140 Borgerhout
IBAN: BE61 0011 8983 2817 BIC: GEBABEBB; Bank: BNP Paribas Fortis – Zandvliet

The lecture will address the state of the global literary marketplace in the 21st century, from the perspective of book producers, the publishing supply chain, and readers. Through a survey of an industry that once more finds itself in flux, the lecture will attempt to draw some conclusions about the state of play between various agents in the communication circuit of contemporary literature.

Abstract: The demise of the retail chain Borders in the UK has caused some market commentators to herald the failure of a heavily commercialized book marketing and retail model, and a renaissance of the independent bookseller and publisher. Another interpretation might instead point to the ever-growing strength of online and alternative sales channels, and the consequent squeezing of the high-street bookseller. The lecture will explore what the current manifestation of book publishing and book retail businesses might indicate about shifting cultural attitudes towards books and reading. It will also consider the impact of new business models in the digital age, and their potential for redrawing the relationships between readers, writers, publishers and other agents in the book supply chain. In an era of disintermediation and new intermediaries, gatekeepers, and opinion formers (including Amazon, Apple, Google, and the blogosphere), how might the interactions between readers, writers and publishers be reshaped – or revert back to earlier models of the literary marketplace?

prof. dr. Pierre Delsaerdt
University of Antwerp Department of Library and Information Science
Venusstraat 35, lok. 003
BE-2000 Antwerp
tel. ++32-(0)3-265.44.49
e-mail: pierre.delsaerdt@ua.ac.be