Last week, EIBF Policy Officer, Tora Åsling, attended and contributed to the programme of the Bookselling as Resistance conference, hosted by the Booksellers Research Network (BRN) at the University of Münster, Germany 10–12 September.

The conference brought together people from near and far as the Bookselling Research Network (BRN) is an international network of academic researchers, booksellers and other industry professionals sharing an interest in the history, practice, and culture of bookselling. Its members conduct research on a diverse range of topics within bookselling, from past to present.

Image: Words of welcome from conference organisers and BRN chairs

EIBF Policy Officer, Tora Åsling, joined the programme to present the RISE Industry Insights research paper on Bookshops, Censorship and Freedom of Expression, sharing insights on how booksellers navigate challenges of censorship and intimidation while ensuring readers have access to books and ideas worldwide. You can find the full report on the RISE website here.

Image: EIBF Policy Officer, Tora Åsling presenting the Industry Insights: Bookshops, Censorship and Freedom of Expression

Other speakers explored topics like new iterations of audiobook piracy and its gray zones, the shape of informal bookselling in India, the history of queer, left and other radical bookshops in the UK, US and Germany.

The conference’s packed programme was sprinkled with delightfully bookish activities, including a bookshop tour through the historical city of Münster and a visit to the Ehrenpreis Centre for Swift Studies, a research institute dedicated to Irish author Jonathan Swift, containing the world’s largest reconstruction of Swift’s library in identical imprints.

Image: A collection of miniature editions of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift in the Ehrenpreis Centre for Swift Studies

A big thank you to the organisers for bringing together researchers, booksellers, and industry professionals for such important conversations about the past, present, and future of bookselling.

Summer is the perfect time to slow down, get inspired, and maybe even start dreaming about your next professional adventure.

As part of EIBF’s EU co-funded project, RISE Bookselling, which brings together booksellers from across Europe to strengthen the sector through collaboration, training, and knowledge exchange, EIBF runs a dedicated bookseller exchange programme. This initiative gives booksellers around the world the opportunity to visit a foreign colleague and experience bookselling in different countries and contexts, fostering mutual learning and inspiration. Applications for the new round of exchanges are open until 20 August 2025!

George Sorin Pop, from Romania’s largest bookshop chain Cărturești, travelled to Slovakia to visit Knihy Brezno, a small independent bookshop in the town of Brezno. He was welcomed by the shop’s owner, Zuzana Giertlová, and spent a few days immersed in her day-to-day work.

Get inspired by George’s story – a great summer read for anyone curious about the benefits of the RISE exchange programme – and apply before 20 August to the new round of bookseller exchanges via the RISE Bookselling website.

Why did you apply for the RISE Booksellers Exchange programme?

I applied to learn about the local flavors of the host town and country, to observe similarities between the cultures, their respective bookmarkets and societal trends. Another reason why I applied was to get to know people that share the same struggles and joys of working as a bookseller. To see what we can improve in our bookshop and to get new ideas that we can also use in our own work. I think it is important to build small communities and connections with people from the same domain.

Is the bookshop you visited comparable to the one you work in? What are the similarities and differences?

The bookshop I have visited is a small independent bookshop, owned by Zuzana, my host during the exchange. It is a bookshop that sells anything you need, from plain paper to art books. The main similarity is the size of the shop and the cozy feel of the place. The main difference between the two bookstores is that Cărturești is the biggest bookshop chain in Romania so things are more center oriented, while Zuzana in her bookshop does almost everything herself, from book orders to shelf putting up shelves.

What are some specific things you learned during your exchange?

In both countries the same book trends can be observed; the troubles with the clients are the same; young people are reading less and less, while a minority of clients are buying most of the books. Združenie vydavateľstiev a kníhkupectiev Slovenska (Slovak Publishers and Booksellers Association, ZVKS) supports independent bookshops with book offers and discounts, and that is a great opportunity if you are an independent bookshop owner. They also publish catalogues with new books that are free for their membership and really helpful for their membership to get informed about the latest publications. Meanwhile in Romania we don’t have a national booksellers association. One thing I learned is that Slovak authors rarely get translated, that there is a strong preference for hardcover editions over paperback and most of their books are published as hardcover editions. 

What are the 3 key takeaways from your stay at the host bookshop that you are bringing back home?

1. A national booksellers association like ZVKS can help and support businesses in times of need. The association in Slovakia help small bookshops by offering them discounts and cheaper books. They also organize meetups between book industry professionals. 
2. It is important to build a community around the bookshop, people come in regularly and hang around the bookstore, casually chatting. Zuzana’s friends help with whatever they can when the bookshop is open, and neighbors and friends come in for a chat during the day.
3. DIY (do it yourself) is sometimes better than prefabricated products; it offers originality, which is a thing that a lot of people don’t emphasize enough (for example the originally designed bookmarks or commercial signs).

Do you think these takeaways can be relevant to other bookshops in your country?

Of course, it’s something every bookshop should consider. Building a local community is, in my opinion, one of the best things a small bookshop can do, for example by organizing events and workshops and bringing people together, while DIY depends on how handy the owner and the staff are. The national association is the first step towards creating a community for booksellers in any given country.

Will you be using some of the things you learned abroad in your own bookshop? If so, how? Do you have at least one concrete example? 

I’m already trying to implement a DIY attitude in the bookstore I work in. Being an amateur craftsman, I try to improve the place where I spend most of my time. I am trying to make the place more friendly and functional and use all of the space to ease our lives and to promote the bookstore and the books with graphic content made by me or my colleagues. 

My colleague participated in another RISE Bookselling exchange, they went to the Rencontres nationales de la librairie, French booksellers conference in Strasbourg, and there are some talks about organizing a national bookselling conference in Romania. This might result in steps towards creating a national booksellers association in Romania. I will definitely participate in this. 

How did it feel to connect with fellow booksellers and share their daily activities in a book market that is not the one you’re used to?  

It felt good, it always feels great meeting people working in the same “guild” and talk about the perks or the challenges of working in the cultural field. It was nice to come up with ideas or just casually complain about the same issues. We shared ideas of how we can improve our businesses, we “stole” ideas from each other and came up with new ones. Interestingly enough, everyday routine is almost always the same in both places (opening hours differ though), ordering books, placing them on the shelves - the alphabetical order and domain arrangements are universal for all bookshops, cleaning the dust etc.

Would you recommend this experience to other booksellers? Why/why not?

Definitely! I have colleagues who have already applied for the exchange, some other colleagues who went to the RISE Bookselling conference in Portugal and colleagues who’ll probably participate in another RISE related event. It is a great opportunity to travel to a different country, personally interact with other colleague booksellers, and learn about the book culture in their home countries.

Later on, the exchange came full circle and Zuzana visited George in Romania during her holiday, making it a truly reciprocal experience.

The bookseller exchange programme offers opportunities for cross-border learning and connection. If you are inspired by the programme, take the chance to be next to plan your own exchange journey – send us your application via the RISE Bookselling platform before 20 August!
 

Founded in 2000, EURead is a consortium of European reading promotion organisations who believe that reading is a prerequisite for full participation in today’s media-led and culturally diverse society. Last month, EIBF, who is a proud member of EURead since 2024, joined the EURead General Assembly and Open Forum, held in Brussels. The event also marked 25 years of EURead’s work in promoting reading across Europe. To commemorate this anniversary, we asked Daan Beeke, from the Dutch reading promotion organisation Stichting Lezen and one of the key figures behind EURead, to tell us EURead’s story in this guest blog.  
 

EURead just turned 25, and for an organisation like EURead, celebrating the 25 year milestone is in many ways the same as when a person celebrates their 25th birthday: it’s a very big step. At 25, one is expected to be an adult. The teenage years are far behind now and the thirties suddenly seem closer than ever. Looking back at one's youth, means telling tales of long ago when fashion was different and tech was nothing like what is the latest now. And of course, there should be a party to celebrate this milestone. But for the rest: business as usual: at 25 one has to work hard to earn a living! 

For those who are unfamiliar with what EURead is: it is a network that binds together organisations from all over Europe who understand that reading is an essential skill and who are key players in promoting it. EURead members have been sharing (since the very beginning, 25 years ago) best practices on reading promotion, scientific insights on reading and how to become a reader, and they have been discussing policies that support reading promotion. We make an impact on society by making it more literacy-rich for all citizens across Europe.  

©EURead

The members page at the EURead website showcases 38 members from 27 countries. All of them in Europe, but not all of them from EU member states. EURead connects geographical Europe and welcomes not only NGO's who see reading promotion as their core business, but also governmental organisations, as well as networks like EIBF and the Federation of European Publishers (FEP). The mission of EURead is (at least) threefold:

1. Connect members so they help each other to do better in reading promotion in their own country/region, by sharing best practices and policy recommendations
2. Send out a loud and clear call to Europe to tackle the reading crisis at a European level
3. Strengthen individual member organisations when they talk to policymakers or look for funding

©EURead

EURead is also one of the founders of the Global Network for Early Years Bookgifting, which was initiated by BookTrust UK and is a global network of early childhood programmes providing free books and reading guidance to promote shared reading. And our Researchers Network, which is dedicated to EURead and Global Network members who have a research department and research staff, allowing them to discuss and share scientific results about reading and reading promotion. 

Back to our 25 years anniversary: it was a blast! And although we did party, it is fair to say it was more about 'business as usual': most of the time was spent on our Annual General Meeting. That is the moment when our members meet in real life and discuss multiple themes and current issues, like the necessity of school libraries, reading and sports, and bookgifting programs. 

©EURead

By invitation of our member Iedereen Leest, the reading promotion organisation in Flanders, Belgium, the location of our meeting was the Auditorium Hall at the KBR Royal Library in Brussels. We welcomed four new EURead members, listened to researchers from our own Researchers Network and were honoured by a visit and welcoming speech from Prof. Dr. Andrea Wechsler, Member of the European Parliament (European People’s Party, EPP, Germany). In addition, a large group of us visited the Hemicycle at European Parliament. Finally, we organised an Open Forum at KBR where a multitude of presentations and panel discussions put reading promotion in the spotlight. Business as usual, but at the same time it felt like a party. 

Because it was our anniversary, we had an extra full room as members of the Global Network for Early Years Bookgifting were invited as well and therefore we welcomed professional reading promoters from 5 continents (and they had their own seminar, too). 

©Simon Bequoye

When we compare our anniversary with the 25th birthday of a person, we feel EURead is now grown up and adult. Looking back to the year 2000 when it all started with only four members, it does feel like ages ago. Just imagine a time without smartphones, where, at the same time, organisations unite to strive for better literacy and reading skills. We are proud of the fact that we now have so many members and together can truly make an impact in Europe. Yes, we need to work hard because a lot needs to be done to turn Europe into a place where everyone is a reader. 

Thank you for reading this blog till the final words. I hope you enjoyed it! 

You can connect with EURead at communication@euread.com , on LinkedIn and read more about the organisation on the EURead website, here.

EIBF is pleased to announce that it has submitted a position paper for the new Culture Compass on the European Commission’s call for evidence portal on the 26th of May.

The new Culture Compass is the strategic framework that will map out EU cultural policy for the years to come, i.e., which priorities the Commission decides to work on in the cultural sector. 

Proposed by Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport, the Culture Compass aims to put culture centre-stage among the political priorities over the next five years. To ensure this, we urged the Commission to: 

• Defend freedom of expression and protect cultural professionals 
• Stand up for literacy 
• Safeguard cultural businesses through thoughtful legislation in a fragile industry 
• Establish a data collection system for the cultural sectors 
• Create opportunities for education and vocational training for cultural professionals 
• Empower the sector through sustainability, inclusion, and digital innovation 
• Pool resources and knowledge across the cultural industries 
• Acknowledge culture as a strategic pillar for the EU’s future through appropriate funding 
• Use culture for broader societal and global goals 

Answering the call for evidence is of utmost importance for the future of cultural policy in the EU: it is an opportunity to make our voice heard and highlight the added value that our sector brings to European culture, democracy, and society. Now more than ever, culture has a crucial role to play in shaping Europe’s future, and this can only be done through strong cultural policies. The cultural compass is a unique opportunity to obtain just that – and we also thank many of our members who also, in turn, submitted their own positions and requests, also reflecting the national idiosyncrasies across the different member states. 

You can access the full position paper below.

From 15 to 17 May 2025, EIBF had the pleasure of joining literary professionals from across Europe in the beautiful city of Prague for the 2025 announcement ceremony of the European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL), held within the vibrant atmosphere of the International Book Fair and Literary Festival Book World Prague. 

As part of the EUPL Consortium, we were proud to support the event that puts the spotlight on emerging European literary voices – and this year’s ceremony was one to remember. 

On 15 May, we kicked off our programme by welcoming the seven-person international jury and representatives of national nominating organisations to the Fair. Throughout the day, these national partners pitched the 13 shortlisted titles, offering jury members insight into the cultural and literary context of each book and its author. 

The following morning, on 16 May, we co-hosted a dedicated workshop for publishers and nominating organisations. Together with our EUPL partners, the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), we introduced the aims and impact of the Prize and how it can serve as a launchpad for international visibility and rights sales. Aurélie Bontout-Roche, the EUPL’s International Project Manager for Publishers and Agents, presented her role in supporting the international outreach of EUPL authors, outlining practical ways publishers and agents can collaborate with the Prize to amplify its impact. We were also pleased to welcome representatives of the European Commission’s DG EAC, who introduced the Creative Europe programme and its funding opportunities, reinforcing the essential link between cultural policy and the European literary ecosystem. 

The highlight of the three days was, of course, the EUPL Award Ceremony held on the evening of 16 May in the beautiful Bohemian Pavilion. With all 13 shortlisted authors in attendance, the ceremony opened with remarks from European Commissioner Glenn Micallef, who underlined the Prize’s role in celebrating the linguistic and cultural richness of Europe. The evening was hosted by Czech journalist and musician Petr Vizina, whose thoughtful reflections and energy set a warm tone. 

We are thrilled to join our fellow consortium members in announcing the 2025 EUPL Laureate: 

Nicoletta Verna (Italy) for I Giorni di Vetro 

Two Special Mentions were awarded to: 

Sheila Armstrong (Ireland) for Falling Animals 

Philippe Marczewski (Belgium) for Quand Cécile 

These three authors stood out for the exceptional literary merit of their work and the promise they hold for cross-border readership. A lively reception and dinner followed the ceremony, providing an opportunity for the EUPL network to connect, toast to European literature, and discuss the stories that brought us all together in Prague. 

Before leaving Prague, on 17 May we organised a final workshop for the 13 shortlisted authors. The session focused on how the Prize can help elevate their careers, not just in the weeks and months following the ceremony, but also in the long term. We explored international visibility, translation opportunities, and the power of collaboration within the EUPL network. 

The EUPL ceremony in Prague reminded us how important it is to champion books, authors, and the human stories they carry across borders. We’re proud to be part of a prize that doesn’t just reward talent – it nurtures it, translates it, and gets it into the hands of readers across Europe and beyond. We extend our congratulations to the laureate, special mentions, and all shortlisted authors. We look forward to seeing your stories on bookshelves across the continent and beyond! 

The European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) is pleased to announce the publication of our position papers on funding for culture, competitiveness, and EU external action in the European Commission’s next multiannual financial framework (MFF).

The MFF is the European Union’s long-term budget, usually covering a seven-year-period. It sets the maximum level of resources for each major category of EU spending for the period it covers, including for funding programmes like Creative Europe, which currently makes our RISE project possible. The seventh and upcoming MFF, covering the period 2028-2034, is currently being put together and will be negotiated in the next few months, including the share of money allocated to culture and the creative industries.

In line with this, EIBF actively participated in three of the European Commission’s public consultations on the next MFF, namely, the ones for funding for culture, competitiveness, and EU external action. Now more than ever it is crucial that funding for culture isn't disrupted, especially given the current veering towards competitiveness and defence spending. Such consultations are an opportunity to make our voice heard and highlight the added value that our sector brings to European culture, democracy, and society.

Moreover, EIBF has also signed a joint statement along with the other organisations representing the book sector in Europe: writers (EWC), translators (CEATL), publishers (FEP), librarians (EBLIDA), and reading promotion (EURead) as well as agencies promoting literature (ENLIT), which calls on the Commission to ensure that proper funding for authors, book professionals and literature and reading promotion is maintained in the next MFF and, ideally, increased.

On this year’s World Book Day, follow our Policy Assistant, Lorenzo Dall’Omo, to UNESCO World Book Capital, Strasbourg, where he attended the Rencontres internationals de l’Ecologie pour le livre, a bookselling conference which aimed to explore the links between sustainability and the book chain. Keep reading to find out about Lorenzo’s impressions.   

One week ago, on the 15th-16th of April, EIBF’s Policy Assistant Lorenzo Dall’Omo attended the Rencontres internationals de l’Ecologie pour le livre organized by the City of Strasbourg, the University of Strasbourg and the Région Grand Est (and in partnership with the Syndicat de la librairie française). The event, serving as a closure to Strasbourg’s tenure as UNESCO’s 2024 World Book Capital, broached a wide range of themes including an overview of the environmental challenges in the book sector, the different environmental impacts of print and digital books, and examples of best practices in the book sector to address sustainability challenges both from Europe and beyond.

The conference kicked off with a stark reminder: while the book sector is an ecosystem of its own, it is inseparable from the wider context in which we live and the issues we face across the globe. The devastating effects of climate change, which we are all privy to, are realities which we all must face.

Despite the daunting nature of these issues, we not only have the ability, but also the responsibility and capability, to kickstart a process of transformation, said Nadège Blond, Director of research at the Laboratoire image ville environnement of the University of Strasbourg. This process can be pursued through three avenues: exchange of best practices, co-construction through experimentation, and dissemination. Moreover, Fanny Valembois, sustainability consultant in the cultural sector and co-author of the EIBF commissioned study on the sustainability of the bookselling sector, especially stressed the importance of experimentation, and the space and freedom it ensures to best cater solutions to the idiosyncrasies of not just sectors, but different actors within those sectors.

Zooming in on the peculiarities of the book sector, what emerged during the conference is that the book chain is not exactly a circular one, as around 90% of it is based on the sale of new products, according to the panelists. While it is valid to pose questions on the carbon footprint of external elements of the book chain (such as transport), a central point of discussion should also be the overproduction of books, according to Anaïs Massola from the Association pour l’écologie du livre . For instance, in France, between 2000 and 2023, the production of new titles increased by 50%, reaching an average of 313 titles published every working day over the last three years (Actualitté). To confront this changing market reality and address the ever-increasing pace of production, the Association pour l'écologie du livre launched an initiative, La Trêve des nouveautés (the ‘Truce’ of new titles), targeting bookshops in France and Belgium. The main thrust of the initiative was to temporarily encourage booksellers to reduce or halt off-the-shelf purchases to offer bookshops a significant respite and encourage collective reflection on the dependence of independent bookshops and the book trade in general on the rapid flow of new titles. This initiative asks important questions for the future of the book chain and pushes us to think harder on our priorities and necessities.

In addition to these reflections, insightful perspectives also emerged during the conference when focusing on the bookselling reality beyond the usual confines of Europe. For example, when looking at francophone African countries, in many cases their school textbooks are still produced in France, diverting from the local ecosystem while also perpetuating problematic consequences when looking at sustainability and transport, as highlighted by Serge Dontchueng Kouam, former president of the Cameroonian Publishers and member of the Alliance internationale des éditeurs indépendants (The International Alliance of Independent Publishers - AIEI). The same often happens with literary works of fiction. Realities like these are important to underline that sustainability is not just a matter of environmentalism, but of equity and fairness. Thankfully, there are already examples to follow to address these persisting inequalities, such as the co-edition solidaires (solidary co-publishing) organized by a grant from the French book centre (Centre national du livre), a public body under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Culture. The aim of this grant is to support foreign French-language publishing houses that, in partnership with publishing houses based in France, take on the economic risks involved in producing original French-language works that are of high quality, diversified and accessible to as many people as possible, in both fiction and non-fiction, said Laurence Hugues, director of the AIEI. Once again, the importance of collaboration proves to be crucial when facing interdisciplinary and complex challenges.

These are merely a few glimpses of what was discussed in Strasbourg over the two days. Despite the plethora of challenges and best practices, a clear consensus coalesced around one central tenet: no solution will ever come from working in a silo, as a concerted effort to transversally communicate across all parts of the book chain is fundamental in tackling complex, wicked’ problems (no book is an island!). From writers to publishers to booksellers, trust and dialogue is needed now more than ever when faced with urgencies of (seemingly) insurmountable proportions brought on by climate change. 

Thank you to the organisers of the conference for two incredibly interesting and insightful days, and best of luck to the new UNESCO World Book Capital 2025: Rio de Janeiro!

Between 23 and 24 March, the European and International Booksellers Federation team was proud to bring together around 300 booksellers from 31 countries for the 3rd edition of the RISE Bookselling Conference in Riga, Latvia. 

The event consisted of two full days of insightful knowledge sharing, exchanging best practices in the industry and networking, and was preceded by the now customary RISE cultural and bookshop tour, introducing attendees to Latvia’s literary history, Riga’s main bookshops and their role in the country’s literary scene. 

This year, the RISE conference was honoured to have Latvia’s Minister of Culture, Agnese Lāce, welcome attendees with an inspiring message about the country’s literary heritage, while mentioning the power books have in bringing people together. Agnese Lāce’s words “if a room full of booksellers is a nightmare for a dictator, it’s a dream for a minister for culture” serve as a powerful reminder of the value of bookshops in upholding democratic values and dialogue.  

The conference featured dozens of panels, presentations, and workshops covering topics like team building, online branding, hybrid bookselling, and the role of bookshops in boosting literacy and democracy, with a whopping 71 panelists, speakers and keynotes! 

With engaging discussions, insightful keynotes, practical workshops, and valuable networking opportunities for booksellers from every corner of the world, the conference was a great success. We are proud that the conference managed to bring together booksellers from far and wide and helped to build meaningful connections among them.  

To close, EIBF Director Julie Belgrado announced that the next RISE Bookselling Conference in 2026 will lay its scene in Verona, Italy, setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Besides allowing participants to get acquainted with classics and local culture, the conference will be an opportunity to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Italian Booksellers Association, Associazione Librai Italiani (ALI). 

After the end of another successful RISE conference, as booksellers departed, they left Riga and the RISE conference with fresh ideas, new connections, and renewed enthusiasm for their work. See you in Verona! 

‘Resilience, Innovation and Sustainability for the Enhancement of Bookselling’, or RISE Bookselling in short, is a three-year, EU co-funded programme run by EIBF. Since its launch in early 2022, RISE Bookselling has been working to create a real network of international and European booksellers, bringing them closer together while upscaling their resilience by providing them with key tools and insights they can put into practice in their shop. 

Under the RISE Bookselling project, and among other multiple activities, EIBF has organised the RISE Bookselling Conference, the first-ever European and international conference to put booksellers at center-stage, giving them an opportunity to have a dedicated space in which to discuss their craft with like-minded peers.