IYPY – The Lowdown

Posted on February 21, 2006 in Uncategorized

Ten entrepreneurial young publishers from around the globe are competing for the third annual British Council International Young Publisher of the Year (IYPY) award. 

The award celebrates the creative and leadership abilities of young publishers (aged 25-35) from developing markets, and ten finalists from Argentina, Colombia, Jordan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mexico, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, and Thailand have been selected by local juries as their national winners. The finalists will be rewarded with a tour of the UK publishing industry, where they will meet with key people from throughout the book trade. 

As part of their programme in the UK the British Council are again hosting a drinks party for the group to meet young UK publishers – and all SYP members are invited!  This will take place on Friday 3 March, 18:00 – 20:00 and if you’d like to attend drop and email to Claire.DeBraekeleer@britishcouncil.org.

Their visit will culminate at London Book Fair where they have the opportunity to make further international contacts and actually do business.

Also whilst at the Fair all finalists take part in a ‘Book Pitch’ session each will be speaking about a title from their country which they feel deserves to reach a wider international audience… but is as yet seeking a UK publisher. These will take the form of two sessions on Monday 6 March, details as follows:

Venue: Arts Council England/British Council Seminar Room (C10/C11)
Timings:
11:30-12:30 – ‘Fiction and Memoirs’ (Colombia, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, South Africa)
14:00-15:00 – ‘Non-fiction’ (Argentina, Lithuania, Oman, Slovenia, Thailand)

The overall IYPY winner is selected by an elite UK jury including Simon Winder, Publishing Director of Penguin Press and Gautam Malkani, Editor of the Financial Times Creative Business pages and author of the forthcoming novel Londonstani .  The winner will be announced at a ceremony at London Book Fair, also on Monday 6 March, at 17:00 in the Arts Council England/British Council Seminar Room (C10/C11). 

The ten finalists and their pitches are:

Argentina
Photo of Octavio – ‘Argentina – Octavio Kulesz’
Name: Octavio Kulesz
Age: 29
Company: Libros del Zorzal
Job Title: Co-founder and publishing director
Website: www.delzorzal.com.ar

Octavio Kulesz has a degree in Philosophy from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is a professor in Ancient Philosophy at the same university.

In 2000 at the age of 23, Octavio and his mathematician brother, Leopoldo, co-founded the independent publishing house, Libros del Zorzal.  Since their first book, Reading Euclid, by Beppo Levi, Libros del Zorzal has published more than a hundred titles, principally essays by Argentinean and foreign authors such as Ivonne Bordelois, Silvia Bleichmar, Pierre Bourdieu, Primo Levi, Immanuel Wallerstein and Alain Badiou, amongst others.

Today, Libros del Zorzal distributes extensively in Latin America and Spain, and is seeking to enlarge its presence all around the world through annual participation in international book fairs.

Octavio’s Book Pitch is:
La palabra amenazada (Words under threat)
Author: Ivonne Bordelois
Publishing House: Libros del Zorzal

Is our language under threat?  Here the author argues that our language, these ‘words under threat’ must be rescued – not as a question of philological criticism or literary talent – but as one of the requirements for a new ecological awareness.  We must alert ourselves against the attack of forces that prevent us from getting in touch with our language as the key that opens the way to creativity, joy and a deeper connection with both ourselves and others.
Ivonne Bordelois is an acclaimed poet and essayist. She has a PhD in linguistics from MIT where she studied with Noam Chomsky, and held a chair at Utrecht University in Holland. Bordelois is the author of a number of books, her latest, El país que nos habla (The Country that Speaks to us), was awarded the 2005 Sudamericana prize. 

Octavio will be presenting and reading from La palabra amenazada at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 14:00 – 15:00 in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Colombia
Name: Carlos Castillo
Age: 26
Company: Editorial Norma
Job Title: Senior Literature Editor
Website: www.norma.com

Carlos Castillo is a Philosophy graduate from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and a former director of its student philosophy magazine.

Since 2003 Carlos has been working at Grupo Editorial Norma. Initially a publisher of school textbooks, Norma has successfully expanded in the recent years into the fields of adult fiction and academic and STM publications, and now stands as one of the largest and most important publishing groups in Latin America.

Carlos began his career there as Literature and Academic Essay Assistant Editor, and since 2004 he works as Senior Literature Editor for Latin America. In this role he is in charge of selecting, editing and developing publishing plans for international titles published in Spanish throughout the region, as well as selecting and editing new titles by Colombian authors.

Carlos’ Book Pitch is:
El salmo de Kaplan (Kaplan’s Psalm)
Author: Marco Schwartz
Publishing house: Editorial Norma (La otra orilla)
Awards: Premio Norma de Novela 2005

Against the oppressive but captivating setting of a Jewish community settled in the Caribbean, the lovable Jacobo Kaplan begins an unusual, feverish quest: to capture the presumed leader of Aurora, a secret organization that strives to revive Nazism. Following reports that their headquarters are located in a restaurant near the beach old Kaplan ignores his family’s warnings, and, aided by his friend Contreras, he embarks on his quest.  However, what at first appears a quixotic adventure will in the end show him his own sad reality.  With precise prose and a wise mixture of tenderness and sympathy for his main character, Marco Schwartz creates this clever novel in which searching for, and escaping from, are two sides of the same coin.

Carlos will be presenting and reading from El salmo de Kaplan at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 11:30am – 12:30pm  in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Jordan
Name: Mohamed K. Alayyan
Age: 33
Company: Jordan United Press Company (Al Ghad Newspaper)
Job Title: CEO & Publisher
Website: http://www.alghad.jo

Mohamed Alayyan is the publisher and CEO of Al Ghad, Jordan’s most independent Arabic daily newspaper.
 
He has been a key figure in the Jordanian media industry since 1998 when he established Al Waseet classifed newspaper, which now has a weekly circulation of two hundred thousand copies.  In 2000 Mohamed established Al Faridah Specialized Printing, which publishes several monthly magazines in both English and Arabic.  He is currently working to establish ATV, Jordan’s first independent terrestrial and satellite, free to air channel. 

Mohammed has strong interests in using his media work to advance national socio-economic and cultural development.  He has published, printed and distributed books for free to Al Ghad subscribers, and is now working on a campaign with other newspapers to increase the number of book readers in Jordan to counteract a national decline in reading habits.

Mohamed’s Book Pitch is:
Hisab Al-Saraya wa Hisab Al-Qaraya (The Palaces and the Shacks)
Author: Nazeer Rasheed
Publishing house: Al Ghad Publishing House

This military autobiography chronicles the long and varied career of Nazeer Rasheed, a pre-eminent figure in Jordan’s military history.  Having studied military sciences in Baghdad he then enrolled as an officer in the Jordanian Armed Forces.  His participation in the Liberal Jordanian Officers Organization forced him to political asylum elsewhere in the region, where he participated in Lebanon’s 1958 revolution and the release of the then vice president of the United Arab Republic, Abd Al Hameed Al Siraj during the union between Egypt and Syria from 1958- 1961.

In 1966 he returned to Jordan and joined the Army as an officer in the Intelligence Services, before assuming the post of their Director General in 1970 during the confrontation with Palestinian organizations.

This absorbing memoir offers insight into the history and politics of the Middle East in the turbulence of the middle of the twentieth century.

Mohamed will be presenting and reading from Hisab Al-Saraya wa Hisab Al-Qaraya  at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 14:00 – 15:00pm in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Lebanon
Name: Joanna El Mir
Age: 33
Company: Samir Editeur s.a.l.
Job Title: Creative Director
Website: www.samirediteur.com

Joanna El Mir has a Postgraduate Degree in Advertising from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA). After working in advertising as an Art Director for four years she made a career change and moved into publishing, a field that has always fascinated her.

She has been working for five years at Samir Editeur, a Beirut-based publishing company specialising in school and children’s books, which it distributes across the Arab world. For the first four years she handled various projects and set up three new departments, working as an Editor, Senior Art Director and Print Production Manager. She now works as Creative Director, coordinating the talents of illustrators, animators and junior designers.

Joanna has also undertaken numerous international publishing workshops, and is one of the founders of Hamzet Wasl’s, a magazine that reviews all new children’s books produced by Lebanese publishers.

Joanna’s Book Pitch is:
La fleur et l’abeille (The flower and the bee)
Author: Francis Imbs
Illustrator: Michèle Standjofski
Publishing house: Samir Editeur

With the start of the spring season, a cherry flower wakes up and spreads its beautiful white dress, sitting there waiting. She waits for that golden powder – pollen – that she needs for its fruit, and which will come from the neighboring tree.

But how will it be able to get it, being just a flower attached to a tree? And what is the merit in being a beautiful flower with an empty heart and no fruit to carry?  The flower is submerged in a cloud of dark thoughts until a bee comes by, and offers her help and…love!

A French documentary and picture-book about nature’s little secrets. Suggested for readers ages 6 and up.

Joanna will be presenting and reading from La fleur et l’abeille at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 11:30am – 12:30pm in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Lithuania
Name: Saulius Petrulis
Age: 32
Company: Eugrimas Publishing House
Job Title: Sales/Project Manager
Website: www.eugrimas.lt

Saulius Petrulis has a Masters Degree from the Law University of Lithuania.
 
He works as the Head of the Sales Department at Eugrimas, one of the leading independent Lithuanian publishers of academic and professional literature, specialising in law, politics, philosophy, economics, education, and the European Union. In 1995 it started as a family business which has been expanding rapidly beyond the world of academic book publishing.

Saulius is responsible for sales, marketing and promotion. This includes book sales forecasts, conferences and book fairs, new business relationships with partners and customers, as well as working with the Lithuanian Publishers Association.

Saulis’ Book Pitch is:
RAŠYMAS DŪMAIS (Writing in Smoke)
Author: Alfonsas Andriuškevičius
Publishing house: Apostrofa

This collection of essays by the poet and art historian Alfonsas Andriuškevičius beautifully explore the crossroads of human existence.

The book explores expanding geographical and cultural outlooks, in particular the meeting of past and future of different individual nations.  Running throughout this exploration is a reflection on humanity’s philosophical and metaphysical being that connects us all.  All thirty essays are genuine delicacies of text.

Andriuškevičius’ unique irony and poetic melody has earned him a reputation as one of Lithuania’s most original and forceful essayists.

Saulius will be presenting and reading from RAŠYMAS DŪMAIS at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 14:00 – 15:00pm in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Mexico
Name: Alejandro Cruz
Age: 27
Company: Hoja por Hoja. Suplemento de Libros, Libraria Publishing House
Job Title: Editor, Director
Website: www.hojaporhoja.com.mx

Alejandro Cruz studied Sociology at the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), and Photography at the Escuela Activa de Fotografía.

In 1998, together with other UNAM students, founded the social research magazine Andamios. In 2002, he was involved in the creation of El pasamanos, an awar-winning children’s magazine.

Alejandro has worked as an Assistant Professor for Sociology at UNAM and as a freelance editor. Since 2003, he works as editor and director of Hoja por Hoja. Suplemento de Libros, the only Mexican publication devoted to current publishing issues. Hoja por Hoja is issued once a month as part of several newspapers throughout the country, reaching more than 300,000 readers. Its objective is to promote, through reviews, editorials and articles, the state of affairs in the Latin American publishing industry, and to improve its professionalisation.

Alejandro’s Book Pitch is:
Hipotermia (Hypothermia)
Author: Álvaro Enrigue
Publishing house: Anagrama-Colofón

Hipotermia is a “novel” —as the author himself puts it— composed of 20 short-stories. In all of them, the main characters are the writing and the writer: the writer as a man, a father, a voice, a plot; the writing as a horizon, a scheme, a reality. Every story presents a twist that digs deeper around the same axis: the precarious meaning of existence.

Álvaro Enrigue is an author who has mastered the timing of his writing: From1996, when he won the Joaquín Mortiz First Novel’s Prize with La muerte de un instalador to now, with Hipotermia —his fourth and most recent work—, he has decanted his own style, frontal and intelligent, and progressively carved his place as one of the most original and stimulating exponents of contemporary Mexican fiction.

Alejandro will be presenting and reading from Hipotermia at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 11:30am – 12:30pm in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room.

Oman
Name: Qasim Al-Belushi
Age: 27
Company: Bait Al Zubair Foundation
Job Title: Publications Administrator
Website: www.myoman.com

Qasim Al Belushi has a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems from Sultan Qaboos University.

He joined the Bait Al Zubair Foundation (BAZF) as Publications Administrator in 2004. BAZF was set up by the Al Zubair family in order to administer the Bait Al Zubair ethnographic Museum, organise its publishing activities, and more widely promote the arts, culture and heritage from the Sultanate of Oman.

In his role at BAZF publishing books on Oman’s cultural heritage, history and geography, Qasim is charged with coordinating everything from production and distribution to marketing and PR.  He has thus far increased the circulation of BAZF titles, and is now working to internationalise their distribution.  

In May 2005 he was selected for the International Visitor Leadership Programme (Book Publishing in the United States), attending the Book Expo in New York.

Qasims’s Book Pitch is:
Oman, My Beautiful Country
Author: Mohammad Al Zubair
Publishing house: Bait Al Zubair Foundation

In 2001 the photographer Mohammad Al Zubair presented the first ever digital photography exhibition in Oman (2001), consisting of over 150 of his works.  Following the success of this exhibition he was spurred to further share his photographs depicting the inherent beauty of Oman with the rest of the world. 

The resulting photographic book (published 2002) is the first in the series ‘Oman, My Beautiful Country’ to reflect his personal exploration of the enchanting landscapes of Oman, illuminating the vast mountain ranges, colourful deserts, lush oasis settlements and dramatic coastlines. Published in Arabic, English, German, French and Japanese in one hardback volume, the high demand on the book has prompted the publication of the concise edition in 2004 and the second edition in 2005.  

Qasim will be presenting and reading from Oman, My Beautiful Country at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 14:00 – 15:00pm in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Slovenia
Name: Rok Kvaternik
Age: 34
Company: Rokus Publishing House, Ltd
Job Title: Chariman of the Management
Website: http://www.rokus.com/

Rok Kvaternik established Rokus Publishing House in Ljubljana in 1991, starting out in one of the smallest European book markets, dominated by a long tradition of monopolistic publishing from the socialist period. Rokus specializes in textbook publishing, and between 1991 and 2005 evolved from a garage publishing house to the second biggest Slovene textbook company, winning significant international textbook awards, and improving the quality and value of textbooks in the Slovene market.

In 2004 Rok sold 49% of his company to the German publishing house Klett Verlag, using these new resources to establish branch offices of Rokus in Belgrade and Zagreb.

With vision and continuous engagement in increasing its creative potential Rokus has grown quickly in an environment with a long anti-market tradition and successfully expanded to a territory torn apart by a war. Rok continues to prove that entrepreneurial spirit can make the book business feasible even in the most unlikely circumstances.

Rok’s Book Pitch is:
Kuhinja Slovenije (The Cuisine of Slovenia)
Authors: Slavko Adamlje, Janez Bogataj, Julij Nemanic
Publishing house: Rokus Gifts Ltd.
Awards: Most Beautiful Slovenian Book (non-fiction literature); Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2005 – Special Jury Award

The authors of this book are old acquaintances of at least a decade who are creative in different spheres. Together, Bogataj, a culinary writer; the chef Adamlje; the wine connoisseur Julji Nemanic; and the top-notch duo of a photographer Puksic and designer Kerin, composed this unique culinary symphony.

In this striking volume, recipes for the contemporary dishes presented are divided up by the seasons in which they are most appropriately served. Alongside each of the dishes a wide range of Slovenian wines are recommended.

Rok will be presenting and reading from Kuhinja Slovenije  at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 14:00 – 15:00pm in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

South Africa
Name: Michelle Matthews
Age: 27
Company: Oshun Books (an imprint of Struik Publishers)
Job Title: Publishing Manager
Website: www.struiknews.co.za/oshunbooks

Michelle graduated from the University of Cape Town with a distinction in English in 1999. She worked as an editor and arts reporter for the Mail & Guardian newspaper and then as Managing Editor on SL (Student Life) magazine, where she got to interview rock stars, dive with sharks and dance to drum and bass at 4am in São Paolo.

In 2004 Michelle took on a new challenge when she was hired by Struik to develop and launch their new women’s imprint. Oshun Books was launched in October 2004, and with them Michelle has now published 24 titles, 13 of them by first-time authors. Oshun Books publishes mainly fiction, memoirs and ‘life guides’ by and for South African women.

Michelle gets excited about strong voices, unexplored niches and new readers.

Michelle’s Book Pitch is:
The Saffron Pear Tree and other kitchen memories
Author: Zuretha Roos
Illustrator: John Hall
Publishing house: Oshun Books

This nostalgic memoir shows how female kinship, kitchens and food are woven inextricably through one woman’s life.

Zuretha Roos’s childhood was spent under ever-blue skies; eating bokkoms (dried fish), natrossies (ripe nectar-filled grapes) and the home cooking of all the women around her on the family farm in the South African Hex River Valley. In the 1970s she moved to the bustling, fraught city of Johannesburg. As a student, her most memorable dish was spaghetti Bolognese – served in a chamber pot! Eventually she became a gracious host, a mother and a food editor at a top magazine. But just when Zuretha’s life looked perfect, tragedy struck, and it took a special culinary journey to give her back her spirit.

When you pick up The Saffron Pear Tree, you’ll discover not only an evocative life story, but a home recipe book from an exotic, yet familiar, place. Saffron Pear Tree is like comfort food; wonderfully warm and deeply satisfying.

Michelle will be presenting and reading from The Saffron Pear Tree and other kitchen memories  at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 11:30am – 12:30pm  in the Arts Council England/ British Council Seminar Room

Thailand
Name: Pharekaew Kaewka
Age: 26
Company: Baan Lae Suan Books (Amarin Printing & Publishing Public Company Limited)
Job Title: Editor
Website: www.baanlaesuan.com

Pharekaew Kaewka spent her childhood in Khon Kaen, Thailand, where, aged eight, she fell in love with literature by reading the translated Japanese novel Little Momo-chan by Matsutani Miyako.

Having studied Architecture at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMIT’L) in Bangkok her love for reading and books brought her to work as a web editor and as part of the architecture editorial staff at Baan Lee Suan (‘House and Garden’) Magazine. A year later she became an editor at Baan Lee Suan Books, publishing books for Thai readers with an interest in decoration and gardening. She is now the editor in charge of all interior decoration publications.

Pharekaew’s Book Pitch is:
Tropical Thai House
Authors: Phraekaew Kaewka ,Piya Danothai
Publishing house: Amarin Printing & Publishing Co.,Ltd.

A beautiful interior design book presenting a selection of 12 tropical houses in Thailand. This culturally-rich country has seen much change in recent years, and this book examines the influences that have affected traditional home design.  It contains practical guidance on building techniques, interior décor and energy saving methods to equip homes for the most comfortable living in the country’s tropical climate.

Pharekaew will be presenting and reading from Tropical Thai House at the Book Pitch session at London Book Fair on Monday 6 March from 14:00 – 15:00pm in the Arts Council England/British Council Seminar Room