After two years away from the fair grounds, EIBF is thrilled to invite you to a half day of exchanges, discussions and meetings with colleagues
The European and International Booksellers Federation is pleased to once again provide you with a space for sharing knowledge and best practices with key stakeholders in the bookselling industry. We have prepared an exclusive programme dedicated to booksellers and booksellers associations, full of inspirational ideas to bring back home, and focused on the future. You can download the full programme here and get to know our speakers below.
The half day conference will be held on Thursday 20 October, at room Fantasie 1 (Congress centre, C3).
Please note that the entrance to the conference is free, but will only be granted upon registration. Please register here before 17 October.
Get to know the speakers
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Enrique Pascual Pons
President of the Madrid Booksellers Guild, bookseller at Librerías Marcial Pons (Spain)
Enrique Pascual Pons has developed his entire professional career at Marcial Pons bookshop and publishers, where he has held different positions until he became the current Director of Bookstores and Counselor of the publishing houses of Law and History.
He is also currently the President of the Madrid Booksellers Guild and of the Madrid Book Fair, having been a member of the Board of Directors of the Madrid Publishers Association for seven years.
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Jeff Deutsch
Author of In Praise of Good Bookstores (Princeton University Press, 2022) and Director of Seminary Co-op Bookstores (USA)
Jeff Deutsch is the director of Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, which in 2019 he helped incorporate as the first not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. He lives in Chicago.
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João Varella
Founder of publishing house Lote 42 and bookshops Sala Tatuí and Banca Tatuí (Brazil)
João Varella is the founder of the Brazilian publishing house Lote 42 and the bookstores Sala Tatuí and Banca Tatuí. He organizes events on the Brazilian independent publishing circuit, such as Feira Miolo(s) and Printa-Feira. João has written six books, the most recent being "Videogame Pandemia", published by Elefante in 2021. João has been a journalist since 2007, and currently collaborates with the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. He presents HBO's documentary "12 Moedas". João lives in São Paulo.
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Katerina Malakate
Vice President of PEN Greece, owner of bookshop-café Booktalks (Greece)
Katerina Malakate was born in Athens in 1978, is married and has two sons. She is the author of three novels, the latest being “Faceless” by Metaixmio in 2020. She is the Vice President of PEN Greece. She owns Booktalks, a small indie bookshop- café in Athens. There she hosts a lot of literary events, coordinates two book clubs, and two workshops (creative writing and reading). She is the creator and admin of one of the biggest facebook groups about literature in Greece (Diavazontas) and blogs in www.diavazontas.blogspot.gr
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Aidai Maksatbekova
Founder & CEO at IQ Bookstore LTD (Kyrgyzstan)
Aidai Maksatbekova was born in 1994 in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan. She graduated from International Alatoo University, faculty of international relations. From 2014 to 2015 studied in Turkey through Mevlana Exchange Programme. After graduation, she worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for two years.
Having spent all her life in Kyrgyzstan, it baffled her that she could not find a physical book in the English language just for her joy reading. So she decided to open the first English Bookstore in Kyrgyzstan. She started in 2019 as an online bookstore. Today, she has a physical bookstore that opened its doors on 12 March 2019 and offers more than 5 000 books. Her mission is to make English books available for kids and adults. She constantly expands the variety of books on her shelves to provide readers with more comprehensive options. She strives to provide a unique platform for the young generation of readers by hosting book clubs’ meetings and events and, therefore, contributing to the exchange of innovative ideas and connection of future leaders.
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Hazel Broadfoot
Owner of Village Books and President of the Booksellers' Association of Great Britain and Ireland (United Kingdom)
Hazel Broadfoot studied English at the University of St Andrews and became a bookseller as soon as she graduated. She joined Waterstone’s in its infancy, managing several branches before being appointed to its board. She left to set up her own business and is the owner of Village Books, an award-winning independent bookshop in Dulwich, south-east London. She is President of The Booksellers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland, and is a Trustee of World Book Day. She loves hands-on bookselling.
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Patrick Schneebeli
President of the LIBER Association (Switzerland)
Patrick Schneebeli is the President of the Swiss LIBER Association. He is a trained bookseller and has been working in publishing since 1998. He is based in Zurich and has been in charge of sales with Scheidegger & Spiess since 2005 and with Park Books since 2012.
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Laura Karlsson
Director of Finnish Booksellers Association, 'Kirjakauppaliitto' (Finland)
Laura Karlsson is the Director of Finnish Booksellers Association (Kirjakauppaliitto). The Finnish BA acts to improve the business environment of Finnish bookstores and their interests by lobbying and offering information and researches, in cooperation with administrative organizations, decision-makers and other relevant operators in the field. The Association functions to secure the position of Finnish bookstores as a delivery channel for literature, follows the international development in the field and strives to improve the visibility of bookstores in the media. Finnish BA represents about 90 % of Finnish Booksellers in brick-and-mortar, webshops and streaming services.
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Raluca Selejan
Co-founder & managing partner At Two Owls Independent Bookshop, Timișoara, România (La Două Bufnițe)
Raluca is the co-founder and managing partner of the independent bookshop La Două Bufnițe, which she co-founded and manages together with her childhood best friend, Oana Doboși. With over 10 years of experience in branding, communication and organizing of cultural events, she is passionate about books and reading - that is being an Owl by profession. She likes art and music (especially rock) and most of all, after reading and the bookstore, she likes to go to concerts and art galleries. Raluca recommends books daily on live radio and weekly in a national cultural magazine, because this is what she believes booksellers have to do: talk about books all the time, on every occasion.