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.