Jakarta Takes Part in London Book Fair to Promote 33rd IPA World Congress

Through the Jakarta Tourism and Creative Economy Agency (Disparekraf), the Jakarta administration takes part in the London Book Fair (LBF) 2022 event at Olympia, London, England from April 5 to 7.

London Book Fair is a momentum to invite publishers from all over the world

The Jakarta delegation joined the exhibition initiated by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy to promote Jakarta as the host of the 33rd International Publishers Association (IPA) World Congress which falls in the forthcoming November.

"London Book Fair is a momentum to invite publishers from all over the world who are gathering to attend the IPA Congress which will be held in Jakarta at the end of November," disclosed Disparekraf Head Andhika Permata, as quoted by Jakarta PPID's press release, Wednesday (4/6).

Jakarta to Host the 33rd International Publishers Congress on November 2022

He added Jakarta, which was also selected as the City of Literature by UCCN (UNESCO Creative City Network) in 2021, felt very honored to host the IPA World Congress.

"We look forward to welcoming IPA members from all over the world to Jakarta," he stated.

Aside that, the London Book Fair 2022 is a meeting place for publishers from all over the world to discuss copyright, sale, and distribution of writing across media, from print, audio, TV, film, and digital channels. It is held annually and is attended by more than 25,000 professional publishers from various countries.

While the Jakarta Disparekraf is part of the Curatorial Team for the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy which also selects publishers from all over Indonesia to be exhibitors in the event.

There were 10 publishers/agencies selected, namely Borobudur Agency, PT Mizan Pustaka, Gramedia International, Gagas Media, Zikrul Bestari, Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia, reN comics, Kesaint Blanc, Literasia Creative, and PT Kanisius.

The administration also presented the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI) General Chair Arys Hilman Nugraha who is also Executive Committee of IPA Congress and IPA Congress 2022 Committee Chair Laura Prinsloo.

Together with IPA Congress 2022 Vice President Karine Pansa, they discussed the preparation of the 33rd IPA World Congress in the discussion session on the second day of Wednesday (4/6). It is also a series of activation of Jakarta as a UNESCO City of Literature.

"Facing the challenges of technological change in the pandemic, the publishing industry is facing new challenges such as platform development and copyright issues. These things will be discussed at the IPA Congress 2022," he expressed.

On the first day of the London Book Fair, the Jakarta delegation had the opportunity to discuss directly with representatives from Norwich who had previously held the title of the City of Literature for 10 years.

Jakarta received a lot of input related to literacy activities that were beneficial for the development and improvement of the city's economy.

Then the second day is the Indonesia Reception which would be attended by the Indonesian Ambassador to British, concurrently Ireland, and the International Maritime Organization Mr. Desra Percaya. In closing, on the third day, there would be a discussion on the book “Bukan Perawan Maria” with the writer from Jakarta Feby Indirani.

The publishing industry is one of the 17 sub-sectors of the creative economy managed by the Jakarta Disparekraf.

Through the 33rd IPA Congress, the publishing industry was expected to be more developed and could create collaboration between publishers from other countries. It was also expected to attract participants from 86 countries with a target of 1,000 publishers.