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Indonesia races against time for 2020 London Book Fair
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Books are displayed at the top floor of the Indonesian pavilion at the 2019 London Book Fair. (JP/Devina Heriyanto)
I
ndonesia has less than a month to prepare for the prestigious London Book Fair (LBF), as the government only recently made the decision confirming its participation.
The 2020 LBF will be held from March 10 to 12 at the Olympia exhibition center in London. More than 25,000 publishers, booksellers, librarians and literary agents from over 100 countries are set to attend the fair, making it the second-biggest exhibition after the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Indonesia has participated in the event since 2015 with the help of the National Book Committee (KBN) under the Education and Culture Ministry. In 2018, the now-defunct creative economy agency (Bekraf) took the lead after Indonesia was chosen to be the market focus at the book fair.
Bekraf, however, was merged into the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry in a Cabinet restructuring last October, with a number of senior ministry officials only being inaugurated last Wednesday, including Yuana Astuti, the creative economy marketing directorate head who is now mandated to handle the upcoming LBF.
Yuana said she had contacted the LBF committee on Monday. “The show must go on. Happily the LBF committee understands our situation and has let us join the event in March,” she said.
The reorganization of the ministry meant that the funding allocated for the LBF could not yet be disbursed and, therefore, the payment would be made in April, according to Yuana. The LBF committee, she said, had agreed and asked for a guarantee letter to secure the payment.
The ministry also missed the deadline set by the LBF committee to submit design and promotion materials on Feb. 7.
