The Department of Culture, through the Catalan Institute of Cultural Enterprises (ICEC) and of Ramon Llull Institute (IRL), returns to the 55th edition of the London Book Fairwith an institutional stand that will have a total of 26 Catalan publishing houses – 8 more than in the previous edition – thus consolidating the Catalan presence in one of the most important book fairs at international level.
Identified with the motto “Catalonia, Land of Books, Barcelona, City of Literature” and under the internationalization mark of the ICEC, Catalan Arts – Booksand of the Ramon Llull Institute (IRL), the stand aims to position Catalan literature and the publishing sector internationally, offer a joint image and provide professionals with a business space where they can develop their activities with maximum facilities.
For the fourth consecutive year, the IRL and the ICEC organize a professional program of match-makingwhich will take place on Tuesday, March 10, to facilitate Catalan publishers and literary agents to meet with British and American publishers in order to promote new opportunities for the translation of works of Catalan literature into English. The seven Catalan companies participating in this session are: The Foreign Office, MB Literary Agency, Silvia Bastos Agency, Group 62, Asterisk Agents, Ute Körner Agency i Cream notebooks.
That same Tuesday at 1:00 p.m., the Delegation of the Government in the United Kingdom and Ireland, together with the ICEC and the IRL, will offer a reception to inaugurate the stand and promote the networking between the Catalan delegation and the international professionals present at the fair.
On Wednesday March 11, the IRL organizes one round table on the translation of non-fiction aimed at professional audiences, Imagine Non-Fiction: the form and its politics which will take place at the Literary Translation Centre. The act will have the participation of the writer Anna Pazoand from Fitzcarraldo’s publisher, Jacques Testardand will be moderated by the journalist Georgina Godwin. Por otro lado, the translator from Catalan to Polish Karolina Jaszecka will be the protagonist of the session on Translators as agents: a solution for less translated literatures?which will be held a day earlier in the same space, organized by the European network ENLitof which the IRL holds the vice presidency.
The 26 Catalan publishing houses that will work at the stand are: Suspicious Animal Editor, Barcanova Editorial, Blume Editorial, booq Publishing, Editions Minotauro, Ediciones del Rowan, El Pirata editions, Editions La Fitorra, UIB editions, Editorial Anagrama, Editorial GG, Editorial REM, Editorial RMEditors, Group 62, Hoaki Books, Including Reading, Jande Editorial, Larousse Editorial, Loft Publications, Manifesto Books/Verso Books, Mosquito Books Barcelona, Editorial workshopCrema notebooks/cliff.
In addition, 10 Catalan literary agencies will participate in the Salón de Derechos: Antonia Kerrigan, Asterisk Agents, Carmen Balcells, Casanovas & Lynch, MB Literary Agency, Sandra Brown, Schavelzon & Graham, Silvia Bastos, The Foreign Office i Ute Körner.
The ICEC has drawn up a triptych with information on publishers, literary agencies, associations and institutions present at the fair, which will be distributed among accredited international professionals, with the aim of giving them greater visibility.
Those attending the fair will also have at their disposal, on the other hand, the Catalog of illustrators from Cataloniawith more than 250 published profiles, a tool that facilitates access to professionals in the sector through samples of their work and that serves as a showcase for the diversity of styles; and for the other, the Catalog of Catalan publisherswhich collects search data for 150 stamps.
The London Book Fair is the most relevant spring book fair in the international publishing calendar. It is an exclusively professional event, specialized in the purchase and sale of rights and in the distribution of content through multiple channels: print, audio, television, cinema or digital environments.
It is a unique opportunity to explore, understand and incorporate the innovations that are shaping the future of the publishing sector. In addition, it offers the attending professionals a wide program of conferences and debates on the key issues that affect the book industry.
The fair has announced that from next year it will move to the known London fairgroundwith the objective of offering better spaces and services to participants. It has also made public the dates of the next edition, which will take place from March 16 to 18, 2027.
The participation of Catalan literary publishers and agents in the fair is part of the line of actions that the Department of Culture carries out to promote Catalan literature and the internationalization of publishers in this field. With this objective, the Department of Culture, through the ICEC and its internationalization brand Catalan Arts-Booksregularly attends major professional meetings in the sector with an institutional stand such as London Book Fair (United Kingdom), the Bologna children’s and youth book fair (Italy), the Buenos Aires International Book Fair (Argentina), the Frankfurt Book Fair (Germany) and the Guadalajara International Book Fair (Mexico).
The IRL, in turn, promotes Catalan literature abroad by supporting the translation and promotion of works and authors in Catalan to other languages, and with a constant and growing presence in international fairs and festivals. In 2026, the Ramon Llull Institute will attend 13 international book fairs. In recent years, there has been a sustained increase in aid granted in the areas of translation, illustrated work, promotion, editorial production, mobility for authors, promotional materials and residencies for translators. In 2025 the figure of 581 was reached.
