ANSA forum with top editors on the future of the book

In the world of books, which plunged with the pandemic into the most serious post-war crisis, with 70% of publishers who are implementing or planning layoffs, ANSA dedicates a series of forums to understand the extent of the impact of Covid- 19 on publishing, the consequences for the entire supply chain and relaunch strategies.
    The meetings, led by the director of ANSA, Luigi Contu in collaboration with the Culture editorial staff, will also be an opportunity to present the new ANSA BOOKS channel, dedicated to the sector and its many areas and protagonists.
    To kick off the forums on May 25 will be the president of the Italian Publishers Association, Ricardo Franco Levi, on the eve of the online presentation, on May 26, of the data on the book market, from January to April 2020, the result of an investigation by the IEA, in collaboration with IE-Editorial Information and Nielsen.
    The cycle of meetings, lasting 30-40 minutes, with the director in the studio in Rome and remote connections, will be concluded by the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, Dario Franceschini .
    The main representatives of the main Italian publishing houses and publishing groups will be the protagonists of the events: Anna Maria Malato , president of Più Libri Più Liberi (28 May); Stefano Mauri, president and CEO of the GEMS Group (June 1); Laura Donnini , CEO of HarperCollins Italia (June 4); Antonio Porro , vice president and CEO of Mondadori Libri (June 8); the publisher Giuseppe Laterza , president of the Laterza (11 June).
    The appeals to the government of publishers (AIE), booksellers (ALI) and librarians (AIB) have not been listened to and the establishment of a culture fund of 210 million in the Relaunch Decree has been welcomed. But now the more delicate phase of defining the mechanisms opens.
    Such as the perspectives and the proposals of the publishers in front of a world of books that will have to deal in 2020 with an estimate, according to the latest IEA data, of 21,000 fewer titles due to the drastic reduction of editorial plans, that is 44.5 million copies that will not be printed and 12,500 new releases blocked? And what future for bookstores that, with the lockdown, have had 140 million less turnover in ten weeks, equal to about 45 million euros of lost gross profits?