1,800 BOOKSELLERS WORLDWIDE STRIKE A BLOW FOR LITERACY
ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY
23 APRIL 2016
What do a film star, literacy problems in South Sudan, and 1,800 booksellers on 5 continents have in common?
They are some of the essential components of a worldwide series of events to create a more literate world.
On 23 April the affiliates of the International League of Antiquarian Bookseller’s (ILAB) will again celebrate
UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day with a series of spectacular and extraordinary bookish events one after another around the world.
Last year, on just one day on 23 April 2015 ILAB booksellers worked
together in one big celebration. Across the world they decided to think
global and act local by holding ILAB Pop Up Fairs - book presentations,
lectures, exhibitions, performances, appraisals - within their local
communities and coordinating their efforts under ILAB’s roof. The
worldwide celebrations held at most busy and sometimes really
unexpected places like woolsheds, boats, campervans, clubs and
skyscrapers made a global impact. The ILAB booksellers raised well over
10,000 Euros, which bought 1,930 books and 500 pens and paper for the
South Sudanese children – delivered by UNESCO's Forest Whitaker Peace
and Development Initiative (WPDI).
In 2016 the ILAB booksellers will do this again… and they will do even
more!
From Australia to Japan and (for the very first time!) to the Republic of
Korea, further on to Cape Town in South Africa, Moscow and all over
Europe to New York, Chicago and the Pacific North West Coast the ILAB
booksellers will once again bring rare books to the people, celebrating literacy, raising funds for UNESCO’s and
American actor Forest Whitaker’s literacy projects in South Sudan, and commemorating three noteworthy
literary anniversaries: on 23 April 400 years ago, SHAKESPEARE and CERVANTES died – a historical
coincidence which will be remembered with special Pop Up Exhibitions and Fairs in Paris and Sydney – , while a
hundred years ago the DADA movement was founded – at the same place where the Swiss booksellers will
pop up on 23 April 2016 as part of the worldwide ILAB/UNESCO celebrations.
AUSTRALIA - JAPAN – KOREA – SOUTH AFRICA – SPAIN – FRANCE – RUSSIA – HUNGARY – AUSTRIA
– GERMANY – SWITZERLAND – NETHERLANDS – DENMARK – SWEDEN – UNITED KINGDOM –
UNITED STATES ...
... and anywhere else in the world where you decide to be a part of it!
AUSTRALIA
SYDNEY:
This
year,
being
of
both
Shakespeare’s
anniversary
the
400th
and
Cervante’s death, there is no better place for
East Coast Australian booksellers to pop up
than the State Library of New South Wales.
The Library, proud of their collections of both
Shakespeare and Cervantes including 1,100
different editions of Don Quixote in different
languages,
will be
celebrating
all
things
SHAKESPEAREan on Saturday 23 April. The
Australian booksellers will join the library with
the first in a series of 30 ILAB Pop Ups on that day, officially launched by State Librarian Dr Alex Byrne.
DUNKELD and HAMILTON: There are two women booksellers far away in the Australian bush who decided
not only to join their colleagues at the ILAB Pop Up Fair in Sydney, but also to raise funds for the UNESCO
literacy projects in their bookshops at home in the weeks leading up to UNESCO World Book and Copyright
Day 2016. So, if you come across an empty bookshelf poster in Dunkeld and Hamilton, Country Victoria, help
Roz Greenwood and Marg Phillips of Roz Greenwood Old And Rare Books raise funds to support literacy in
South Sudan!
PERTH, in Western Australia, is the most remote capital city in the world – and one of the loveliest. In 1962
Perth became world famous as the "City of Light" when the inhabitants lit their house lights and streetlights as
American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth in his spaceship. This year Perth
booksellers will shine a light on literacy and hold a Pop Up Fair in the courtyard of the beautiful two story
heritage listed stables where Muir Books is located.
JAPAN
TOKYO: At their general meeting in April, shortly before UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016, the
Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of Japan and their President will officially launch the ILAB Pop Up
Celebrations in Japan.
ALL ACROSS JAPAN: From Tokyo to Kyoto, Sapporo, Osaka and Kumamoto the Japanese rare book dealers
will join the great chain of worldwide bookish events on 23 April by decorating special Pop Up Book Fair
Windows with a fine selection of rare books and Empty Bookshelf Posters in their shops to raise money for
the UNESCO literacy projects in South Sudan.
TOKYO: The World Antiquarian Book Plaza is located in Tokyo’s city centre, five minutes away from the
famous Ginza, and will once again be the elegant venue for an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair on World Book and
Copyright Day 2016, organized by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of Japan (ABAJ).
KOREA
SEOUL, PUSAN, DAEGU: Find rare and fine books, get in contact with antiquarian booksellers in Seoul, Pusan
and Daegu! For the first time ever, the ILAB dealers in the Republic of Korea will join their colleagues
worldwide on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 23 April 2016. Korean booksellers will organize Pop
Up Fairs in prominent places in their capital Seoul as well as in the second biggest Korean city Pusan and in the
city of Daegu.
RUSSIA
MOSCOW: Free Appraisal Day: bring your books, maps, prints and autographs and learn about their value!
Enjoy a special exhibition, a game for children and an auction of books about books, organized by the Russian
antiquarian booksellers.
SOUTH AFRICA
CAPE TOWN: After the successful launch in 2015, Paul Mills and AntiquarianAuctions.com will participate
once again in the international 24 hour chain of ILAB Pop Up Events. In association with Penguin Random
House, they will host a talk with Susan Buchanan, author of the recently published “Burchell’s Travels: The Life,
Art and Journeys of William John Burchell”; visitors and the general public will be invited and asked to make a
donation to support the UNESCO literacy projects.
SPAIN
BARCELONA: It is a long and good tradition in Barcelona to offer a rose for every book bought on St Jorge’s
Day. Coinciding with UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day, ILAB bookseller Albert Casals and his
colleagues will pop up at the famous La Ramblas, to show wonderful books, to raise money for UNESCO's
Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) in South Sudan and to present roses to booklovers.
MADRID: Published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615, Cervantes’ Don Quixote is considered one of the most
influential works of literature and as a founding work of modern Western literature. Don Quixote was first
printed in Madrid by Juan de la Cuesta. In honour of the 400th anniversary of CERVANTES’ death on 23
April, the Spanish booksellers will pop up at la Cuesta’s
former house to present rare and fine editions of Don
Quixote along with the crème-de-la-crème of Spanish book
history.
SWITZERLAND
ZURICH: For bookish people 2016 is a year to
commemorate in many respects. 400 years ago Shakespeare
and Cervantes died, and a hundred years ago DADA was
brought to light. At the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, where
Hugo Ball and others founded the Dada movement in 1916,
the Swiss antiquarian booksellers will gather a hundred
years later for an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair on 23 April 2016
to celebrate the anniversary of the Dada founding (maybe)
with a Dada performance, (certainly) with a presentation of
rare first editions and (definitely) with a fundraising to
support literacy worldwide.
GERMANY
MUNICH: “Book Tales & Cocktails” was such a big success
on 23 April 2015, that the book dealers in Munich and their
customers immediately decided to celebrate UNESCO’s
World Book and Copyright Day again in 2016. So, right in the city centre of the Bavarian capital in the rooms
of the Kaufmanns Casino, where business men and women have been meeting for conferences and cocktails
since 1832, antiquarian booksellers will show some of their most extraordinary books – with music, drinks,
finger food, and a lecture on “Early 20th Century Rare Book Trade” held by the renowned, no: legendary
German publisher Klaus G. Saur.
HUNGARY
BUDAPEST: On 23 April the Hungarian bookseller Adam Bosze will sit in his open bookshop in Budapest’s city
centre and read out from his favourite books on music, for 8 hours, non-stop, in public: a living symbol for the
importance of literacy and an impressive performance to show that the power of reading is vital for everyone,
worldwide.
AUSTRIA
VIENNA: The Austrian booksellers will
launch the ILAB Pop Up Week on 16
April 2016, from 5 to 7 pm, with a
Bibliophile Evening dedicated to books
on travel from Austria into the World.
Dr. Paul Kainbacher invites collectors
to his bookshop, where Walter Sauer
and Martin Pfitscher, specialists in
Ethnology, talk about 19th century
travels of Austrian adventurers to
Africa. The evening closes with a book
presentation
and
a
fundraising
to
support UNESCO's Forest Whitaker
Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) in South Sudan.
HIGH ABOVE VIENNA: A high-flying book presentation in the
Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel of the world-famous Prater will be
one of the ultimate highlights on UNESCO World Book and
Copyright Day 2016. On 23 April, from 10 am to noon, the
Austrian Booksellers will take you on a trip high above Vienna
while offering rare and fine books in one of the wheel cabins and
raising money to buy school books for the children in South
Sudan. Who knows? Maybe Orson Welles' Third Man will be
there, listening to the famous zither tunes?
FRANCE
PARIS: On 23 April 2016 there will be one really big event - in
Paris in the elegant surroundings of the Grand Palais! The French
antiquarian booksellers will join in ILAB’s worldwide celebrations
on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day by granting free
entry to the Salon International du Livre rare & de l’Autographe.
In exchange, fair visitors will be invited to donate some money in support of UNESCO’s South Sudan literacy
project. Inside the Grand Palais, the French booksellers will celebrate Miguel de CERVANTES with an
impressive exhibition.
PARIS, GRAND PALAIS: Throughout the Parisian Book Fair, ILAB President Norbert Donhofer, Michael
Steinbach, and many other ILAB booksellers will set up the Empty Bookcase Posters in their own stands to
raise funds for the UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Initiative in support of literacy in South Sudan and to say:
Wherever we are, we are a part of it. The world of books unites us. A fitting contribution to the world
celebration of books and literacy from booksellers in UNESCO’s home town.
NETHERLANDS
AMSTERDAM: In one of the most beautiful and lively cities in
Europe, Frank Rutten and Sascha Kok will fill the Empty
Bookcase Posters in their shops and raise funds to fill the
real bookcases in the schools in South Sudan.
HAARLEM: Since the Middle Ages, Haarlem is one busiest
and richest places in the Netherlands. On UNESCO World
Book and Copyright Day from 2 to 5 pm, Dutch booksellers
will hold a Pop Up Book Market on Kruisstraat 3 in the
historical city centre. Enjoy a wonderful array of rare and
fine books and give a strong sign of support by donating
money for the UNESCO literacy projects.
GRONINGEN: Books at the butcher’s, buy books with
chocolate or take a book for a necklace! Lyseth Belt and
Theo Butterhof of Antiquariaat Isis will once again organize a
unique ILAB Pop Up Book Fair Street on UNESCO World
Book and Copyright Day. Browse the shopping windows of
Folkingestraat, admire an exhibition of Jewish books at the Synagogue, support the beautiful independent shops
and make a donation for UNESCO’s and Forest Whitaker’s literacy projects in South Sudan.
DENMARK
COPENHAGEN: Antiquarian booksellers will pop up in the foyers of the Copenhagen libraries.
SWEDEN
STOCKHOLM: In the Swedish capital UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day will turn into a great World
Book and Copyright Night, as the Stockholm Culture Night rolls out the purple carpet to celebrate art, music,
dance and literature with breathtaking performances and amazing exhibitions held at public places and
museums. Six Swedish booksellers will be a part of it with an ILAB Pop Up Fair at the Royal Swedish Academy
of Art!
LUND is famous for its historical buildings, numerous bicycles – and its bookshops. Akarps Antikvariat at
Kalkstensvägen 21 is home to a very special treasure all book people will immediately fall in love with: a
stunning collection of over 200 Swedish chapbooks and catch-penny-prints. For this year’s UNESCO World
Book and Copyright Day the owner Pierre Dethorey will organize a special exhibition of this beautiful, funny,
colourful and extremely rare bibliophile collection.
UNITED KINGDOM
OXFORD: Booksellers from the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) and their colleagues in the
Provincial Booksellers’ Association (PBFA) will join together to bring World Book and Copyright Day to the
attention of all who come to one of Britain’s largest rare book fairs, the Oxford Premier Fair on both Saturday
23 April and 24 Sunday.
UNITED STATES
NEW YORK: The city that never sleeps will host an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair at a most spectacular venue.
Where? Stay tuned for more information coming soon.
CHICAGO, IL: 12 ILAB Booksellers will show rare and fine books at Glessner House built by noted American
architect Henry Hobson Richardson at Chicago’s historical “Millionaires’ Row". All dealers have agreed to
donate 10 per cent of the proceeds of any sale made during the Pop Up to UNESCO. Their generous support
for literacy will be echoed by sponsors like Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, the Caxton Club, and many other
Chicago based cultural organizations.
SEATTLE, WA:
In the late 19th century Seattle was the gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush.
And who was born in Seattle? Jimi Hendrix! On 23 April 2016, the Seattle booksellers will host the final ILAB
Pop Book Fair 2016 in the Madison Room at the Sorrento Hotel, including a 6-hour appraisal event, lots of
information about the antiquarian booksellers in the United States and a big fundraising for UNESCO's Forest
Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) to help the children in South Sudan.
WEST LINN, PORTLAND / OREGON: At the same time, booksellers Elisabeth Burdon, Nat des Marais and
Charles Seluzicki will join in celebrating "the end of the day" with an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair, as the sun goes
down over World Book and Copyright Day 23 April 2016. The Portland booksellers who celebrated in a
Portland pub in 2015 are heading a few miles south this year and will be showing rare books, maps and
ephemera at the West Linn Public Library on April 23 2016, noon to 5 pm - a great spot to chat with fellow
booklovers, bring a book for an appraisal and donate to UNESCO literacy programs for South Sudan.
ACROSS THE WORLD
“LITERACY is a fundamental human right and the very heart
of our work”, says ILAB President Norbert Donhofer. In
South Sudan 70 % of all adults are illiterate and 84 % of
women. That’s just one of the reasons why ILAB
booksellers stand up on 23 April 2016, World Book and
Copyright Day: to show the power of books, the essence of
reading, the fascination of bibliophily and to give a strong
sign of support to UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Peace and
Development Initiative in South Sudan. Help buy books for
the children in South Sudan! Make a donation and fill their
empty bookshelves. Reading is a fundamental human right,
and literacy is vital for a stable world!
This overview gives a glimpse of what will happen at the
ILAB Pop Up Celebrations from Australia to Asia, Africa, all
over Europe and the United States on UNESCO World
Book and Copyright Day 23 April 2016. For 24 hours these
and many more worldwide events will pop up one after the other to show that there is nothing more powerful
than Books, Books, Books! Take an atlas, go to Google Maps and look for an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair near you.
ILAB will follow up all events worldwide in a 24-hours live-report. Visit us on ilabpopupbooksfairs.blogspot.de
and on www.ilab.org, follow us on Twitter, join us on Facebook! We’ll see you there!
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF ANTIQUARIAN
BOOKSELLERS
ILAB is the umbrella organization of the professional rare
book trade uniting 22 national associations and around
2000 rare book dealers in 34 countries worldwide.
For more information and a regularly updated full list of
all ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs visit www.ilab.org and
ilabpopupbookfairs.blogspot.de.
For more details on UNESCO’s World Book and
Copyright Day visit www.unesco.org/new/en/wbcd and
click here for information about the Forest Whitaker
Peace & Development Initiative in South Sudan.
Contacts: Sally Burdon - [email protected] Barbara van Benthem - [email protected]
For immediate release, April 2016 (Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO,
Wikipedia, the organizers)