The 2020 London Book Fair, which one of the UK’s largest book events, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“It is with reluctance that we have taken the decision not to go ahead with this year’s event,” Reed Exhibitions stated.
The cancellation follow publishers and agencies pulling out of the event in the last week which was scheduled to take place on March 10 -12 at Olympia London.
Reed Exhibitions pointed out that the fair’s participants are facing travel restrictions in the lead up to attendance. Adding the London Book Fair would return “better than ever” in 2021.
Leading publishers that were due to attend and had cancelled included Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster.
Amazon also pulled stating “out of an abundance of caution, and with the health and safety of our employees, customers and partners as our No. 1 priority”.
Cressida Cowell, Lynda La Plante, Edna O’Brien and Gyles Brandreth had been some of the big name authors set to attend.
