As the doors closed on Olympia for the final time, the 2026 London Book Fair gave the publishing world plenty to reflect upon. After an action-packed day at one of the most anticipated events on the literary calendar, our Marketing & Communications Assistant, Meg, shares four key takeaways currently shaping the UK publishing landscape.
Celebrating reading for pleasure in The National Year of Reading
2026 is, as you may already know, the National Year of Reading. A Department for Education initiative in collaboration with the National Literacy Trust, the campaign aims to tackle the profound and worrying decline in reading enjoyment in the UK. 1 in 8 children in the UK don’t own a single book, which has been shown to negatively impact their future mental health, wellbeing, and even earning potential.
The slogan of the campaign is ‘Go All In’ – encouraging people to read about things they already love, and aiming to reconnect them with reading for pleasure.
The National Year of Reading was unsurprisingly a key focus of the seminars taking place across the 2026 London Book Fair. There was a heavy emphasis on improving children’s enjoyment of reading and literacy, and discussions between panellists on how we can actually achieve this.
One of my favourite events of the Book Fair was ‘Freedom to Read in the National Year of Reading’, which was part of English PEN’s fantastic programme of events across the Wednesday. The critical observations I took away from this event were the importance of:
- Children seeing themselves in the books they read (the importance of the diversity of authors and publishers, and publishers consistently publishing diverse books).
- Building confidence – reading with children, providing positive encouragement of their reading, and supporting them with phonetics.
- Support for parents – providing parents who may not be able to purchase books with routes to still encourage their children to read, and empowering them to read with their children
- Support for school and local libraries – many children do not have a school library or librarian. For children who may not have access to books at home, this is another barrier to their reading.
Panellists also discussed the importance of maintaining this positive momentum and energy into the future.
There was a heavy emphasis on improving children’s enjoyment of reading and literacy, and discussions between panelists on how we can actually achieve this.
Here in Norfolk, despite Norwich being a UNESCO City of Literature, 39% of Norwich primary school students are below their expected reading level when entering secondary school.
It’s easy to feel frustrated by this, but there are fantastic initiatives that have already been working hard to help young people’s reading — for example, the Norfolk Reading Project, winner of the City of Literature Award 2025, who have trained over 600 Reading Support Volunteers to listen to children read in over 100 primary schools in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Norfolk. Volunteers receive free training and DBS checks so they can support young people in the classroom.
BookBanks give out free books to people visiting food banks (you can find them at Bowthorpe Community Church, Fridays, 10.30am–12pm). There is also a location in Wymondham (which is currently temporarily closed whilst the food bank relocates). Location information for BookBanks can be found here.
The Early Years Library is located in Norfolk & Norwich Millenium Library (inside The Forum), and has dedicated areas for children to play and use their imaginations; free events and workshops, and of course books for children and their families to borrow for free. There are also dozens of other fantastic libraries across Norfolk — access the list here.
Local independent bookshop The Book Hive’s literary festival, The Mannington Book Bash, puts on a programme of events for local schoolchildren with fantastic authors at absolutely no cost to parents, teachers, or schools.
And here at the National Centre for Writing, we offer engaging free sessions and events for families throughout the year, such as Tiny Dragons and Family Activity Days. You can find what’s on here.
There are many other initiatives and organisations we’re extremely lucky to have in our region — above are just a few examples. The best way to support them is by donating, giving your time to volunteer, or sharing information about their work with people you know. If you can, do this during and beyond the National Year of Reading!
Translation: Norwich as a global city
Every year, National Centre for Writing co-programmes the Literary Translation Centre at London Book Fair (LBF), in partnership with LBF and a consortium of UK-based translation organisations. It is a hub for debates on hot topics in literary translation and features seminars, discussions and networking opportunities.
I watched our International Programmes Manager, Nashwa, chair an insightful panel on ‘Translation in the Year of Reading‘ featuring Zhui Ning Chang (Editor-in-Chief, khōréō magazine), literary translator Jamie Lee Searle, and Nariman Youssef (Director, Poetry Translation Centre). A particularly striking moment was the discussion surrounding the ‘alternate texts’ a translator navigates during their work; Jamie Lee Searle beautifully described these as the ‘shadow versions interwoven with the text.’
Later in the day, also in the Literary Translation Centre, literary translators Dr Kotryna Garanasvili, Jeremy Tiang, and publisher and editor Kristen Vida Alfaro (Tilted Axis) focused on the far-reaching role of the modern literary translator as a key asset in the publishing industry, while also discussing how the industry in turn can support and care for its translators.
Kotryna is an alumna of our Emerging Translator Mentorships programme who now serves as a mentor on the scheme; she also teaches at the University of East Anglia serves as a member of the BCLT Research Group. Jeremy is also an Emerging Translator Mentorships mentor and was series editor for Ká-sióng, the Taiwanese chapbook set from Strangers Press. It was great to see Norwich highly visible as a globally-connected city of literature and translation.
The ‘human first’ AI revolution
AI was an impossible-to-ignore feature of this year’s London Book Fair.
In a recent report from Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy, 39% of novelists reported that their income has already been negatively impacted by GenAI. This was mostly attributed to competition from AI-generated books and loss of jobs which provide supplementary streams of income. Shockingly, over half (51%) of published novelists agreed that AI is likely to displace their work entirely.
Having worked in small-press publishing and also for an indie bookshop, I strongly believe (and hope!) that, in response to the second statistic, the desire for well-written, human-authored books will not be displaced by a desire for AI-written works.
But AI and its impact on writers is still undeniably an urgent and necessary conversation, and this was reflected in major announcements made at LBF:
The ‘Don’t Steal this Book’ Initiative was all everyone was talking about, with the books visible across Olympia (and very difficult to get your hands on). 10,000 authors published an empty book to protest the theft of their work by tech companies to train AI models.
The Society of Authors announced their ‘Human Authored’ scheme, where authors can register their books and download a ‘Human Authored’ logo to display on their back cover. At an event for Sarah Hall’s novel Helm at the Norwich Book Festival last October, I was told about a small, circular ‘Human Written’ maker’s mark on the front cover (if you see a copy in your local bookshop, go and have a look!). Initiatives like this are crucial so that readers can make more informed choices about the books they read.
The books we’re buzzing about
The London Book Fair is an opportunity for publishers to highlight their upcoming books, but you may not know that there are also huge deals signed during the Fair itself. During the event, The Bookseller publishes a special edition, showcasing the biggest news and book deals from the previous day, which attendees can pick up each morning.
A few books I’m particularly excited for are:
The third novel from AK Blakemore, Doom Painting, which retells the story of the Peasant’s Revolt and will be published by GRANTA in September 2026. The Glutton and Manningtree Witches are fantastic books — told in poetic, powerful language — and I can’t wait to read her newest novel.
Director Jane Schoenbrun’s ‘mind-bending’ debut novel, Public Access Afterworld, which Sceptre acquired in a six-figure deal. It’s described as an ‘epic blend of literary fantasy, coming-of-age, sci-fi and horror’.
Garden by Hiroko Oyamada, published by GRANTA in November 2026. If you like weird Japanese fiction then you’ll love her work. Garden is a collection of short stories in which the everyday reality of the human world slips into something more strange. Interest piqued? Read Oyamada’s The Factory (a stunning book about the nature of modern work, with hints of Kafka and Beckett) whilst you wait for her latest book to come out!
For more news from the 2026 London Book Fair, check out the Bookseller.
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