ReBoot: Books, Business, and Reading, comprising an October 13 conference plus research tracks, is designed to analyze how Covid-19 could reshape the global publishing industry. Organized by Ruediger Wischenbart Content and Consulting (Austria), Carlo Carrenho (Brazil/Sweden), and Klaus-Peter Stegen (Germany), in partnership with KNK, Bookwire, Publishers Weekly, and #coisadelivreiro, the program will provide a global virtual forum to gather data, write case studies, and foster debate among industry executives and thought leaders on the best ways for the industry to move forward.
The full ReBoot initiative contains a series of “Preparation Tracks” leading up to the October 13 conference, some of which have already begun. These tracks include several workshops on four themes: consumer research; insights into hybrid publishing; bookselling across multiple formats (print and digital), channels (bricks-and-mortar, online), and models (sales, downloads, subscriptions); and finally resulting transformations of the supply chain. The October 13 virtual conference will feature four sessions, each devoted to one of these four main topics.
Conference speakers include John Ingram, CEO of Ingram; Nitasha Devasar, head of distributor Taylor & Francis’s Indian operations; Carmen Ospina, director of marketing, communication, and business development at Penguin Random House Spain and Latin America; and Michael Reynolds of Europa Editions and Eva Ferry of its Italian sister publisher Edizioni E/O. Others set to participate are David Worlock from the Outsell executive consultancy; Knut Nicholas Krause, founder of the KNK publishing software house; Mitchell Davis, founder of BookSurge and now library and author community promotor; and Jens Klingelhöfer, cofounder of the international digital aggregator Bookwire.
More details about ReBoot are available at rebootbooks.org and via @rebootbooks on Twitter. The online conference will go live at 7 a.m. EDT.
While the Frankfurt Book Fair officially canceled its in-person fair only two weeks ago, American agents have been planning for an online-only event for months. So what will this year’s fair look like for them? Lots of Zoom calls, with some bells and whistles thrown in to make the chats more personal and fun.
Frankfurt, for its part, is offering a number of virtual tools to help sellers connect with buyers. The fair is allowing agents to register this year as exhibitors. Once they’ve done so, Frankfurt Book Fair v-p Riky Stock explains, they will be given a “contact person” who can edit their entries and upload content for them. They will also have access to an event calendar, through which they can plan invitation-only meetings, and to an exhibitor catalog. The catalog, which is now live, will give the agencies the ability to have a digital presence by including links to their company websites, social media information, and uploaded documents such as rights catalogs. The fair is also providing a digital rights platform where, Stock says, agents can “upload their rights guides, title information, rights availability, and previews of titles.” The platform has been branded Frankfurt Rights and borrows elements from IPR License, a virtual rights trading and licensing company owned by Frankfurt. The platform will be free to use through at least June 2021 and, unlike IPR License, will not be taking commissions.
Stock added that some agents may also opt to host webinars. Writers House’s Cecilia de la Campa hosted a webinar at last year’s Bologna Book Fair and told Stock that webinars have advantages over the in-person meetings. Notably, de la Campa says, webinars allow more people to tune into the presentation, and they can also be saved and shared afterward. “We can reach publishers with whom we don’t yet have major business, and we can announce any exciting new deals and sales on the spot to everyone at once,” de la Campa says.
Frankfurt will also help promote webinars that agents and rights directors choose to host. While the agents will host the meetings on their own, using whichever platforms they choose, the fair will post the webinars in the events calendar and on its Frankfurt Rights dashboard. “We will help with visibility and, to a certain extent, promotion,” Stock says.
For some agents, like Jennifer Weltz at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, this year’s unusual event doesn’t offer as many obstacles as one might assume. Weltz says she has been doing Skype meetings with her coagents pre-fair for years; it’s a tradition she started in 2010, when an erupting volcano in Iceland unexpectedly kept numerous Americans from attending the book fair. “When I started [doing the Skype meetings], lots of agents said, ‘I can’t. I don’t have a webcam.’ ” Editors were also resistant. Now, of course, plenty of people are on videoconferencing platforms for most of the day. With that being the new reality, Weltz is predicting that this year’s Frankfurt could be her busiest yet, given that she is, as she notes, totally unshackled by the standard constraints of an in-person event—meetings don’t have to feature only a few people, and they don’t have to happen within the time frame of the fair. And, while she admits she’ll miss seeing people in person, she says she’s confident about getting everything done. “We could be on the moon,” she exclaims, and she can make sales as long as those in her audience “have my list in front of them and we’re facing each other and talking.”
While other agents acknowledge that their fair will be chock-full of Zoom meetings, some are trying different tactics to make the interactions more fun. Sanford Greenburger’s Stefanie Diaz says they have added a “meet the author” feature for this year’s event. “We’re highlighting debut authors and other standout titles with short author videos,” she explains. These will be shared during the meetings Diaz has planned throughout September and October.
That there’s no need to contain business to the run of any physical show—usually three to four days for most agents—is something other agents say is a boon this year. Baror International is, like Sanford Greenburger, stretching business out over two months, with virtual meetings happening throughout September and October. “There’s no reason to tie meetings to a few days,” says the agency’s Heather Baror. “Without the constraints of the fair schedule we can have more meaningful meetings and more of them.” Baror also thinks the virtual realm can allow for “more productive chats than [those held] within the bustle of the fair.”
Foundry Literary + Media is also trying to inject a little fun into the proceedings. The agency has put together an interactive rights guide and, rather than having prospective buyers schedule meetings with the agency’s rights people, they will instead get to talk with the title’s agent or, in some cases, authors. “Each meeting will be a discrete Zoom call that I believe will be more fun and informative than any German agent center meeting ever could be,” explains agency cofounder Peter McGuigan. “We’re making lemonade out of lemons here. Hopefully it’ll stand out and people will notice our books.”
Bloodshed was foreseen by the people of Northumberland even before the Viking raiders came ashore on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in AD 793.
An ancient manuscript recalls how ‘amazing sheets of lightning and whirlwinds and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky’, but no omen could have prepared them for the barbarity that followed.
Leaping from their longboats, Viking invaders stormed the abbey and massacred priests, nuns and monks — even as they prayed at the altar.
‘They miserably ravaged and pillaged everything; they trod the holy things under their polluted feet, they plundered all the treasures of the church,’ claimed one chronicler of the time.
‘Some of the brethren they slew, some they carried off with them in chains…’
In the monastery on neighbouring Iona, one defiant abbot was ‘cut in pieces with severed limbs’. But even then his assailant was not satisfied, hacking at his entrails in a frenzy of blood-lust.
Viking invaders stormed the abbey and massacred priests, nuns and monks — even as they prayed at the altar
So began a reign of terror that saw the Vikings slaughter their way across England, Scotland and Ireland — as well as large swathes of North-West Europe — for more than a century.
With names like Erik Bloodaxe and Thorfinn the Skull-Splitter, these warlords showed no mercy — which makes it all the more peculiar that recent historians seem determined to paint them in a rather different light.
While not quite suggesting that they should be renamed Erik the Ever-so-Polite and Thorfinn the Touchy-Feely, research published this week suggests we should take a more nuanced view of Viking marauding.
The report in the journal Nature involved genetic analysis of more than 400 Viking skeletons from burial sites across Europe. Among the most striking findings is that Scandinavian Vikings inherited genes from both Southern Europe and Asia so, far from being the blonde brutes we imagine, they were as likely to have had brown hair.
Fascinating stuff, but more controversial are the conclusions we are expected to draw from the bodies of two males buried in Orkney. While their grave contained swords and other Viking artefacts, these men were actually Picts — Celtic-speaking people who lived in Scotland at the time of the invasions. And yet they appear to have been respected as Vikings.
According to the study’s lead author Dr Daniel Lawson of the University of Bristol, this suggests ‘a different side of the cultural relationship from Viking raiding and pillaging’.
The implication is that far from being the murderous types we imagine, the Vikings mixed willingly with other cultures who accepted their way of life. But as the Vikings’ own accounts make clear, anyone who did collaborate with them was likely forced into doing so rather than persuaded.
‘Great numbers of English flee before our swords,’ boasted one Viking poem.
Forewarned of a raid, the men and women of Fife were said to have ‘dragged themselves off to the woods and wastes with weeping and wailing’. On return they would have faced famine as the Vikings would have smashed their farm tools before plundering and torching their granaries.
Women were raped and prisoners were sold into slavery, often into Asia and the Middle East where the preference for eunuchs saw them castrated upon capture.
Vikings had names like Erik Bloodaxe and Thorfinn the Skull-Splitter and terrorised across England, Scotland and Ireland for more than a century
But even those poor souls might have been considered lucky not to have been dispatched straight away — for the Viking cult of the warrior valued killing for its own sake. Doing so quickly and efficiently was an art learned from childhood by the sons of noblemen and their weapon of choice was the sword — often handed down from father to son and given such telling names as ‘Brainbiter’.
Apprentice combatants learned how to twist and turn wearing heavy mail tunics and iron helmets, and to wield swords, spears and axes while protecting themselves with shields.
The training for hand-to-hand combat required great stamina and strength and warriors were taught to disable their foes by slicing into the thigh or arm before delivering the fatal strike to the head — with such force the skeletons of their victims reveal blows that smashed through helmets and skulls to pulverise the brain.
Among the Viking ranks were ‘berserkers’ (Norse for ‘bear-like’), legendary warriors who are believed to have gone into battle without armour, protected merely by the rage they worked themselves into.
One troop on the eve of battle were described as ‘mad as dogs’. Others donned the skins of wolves, somehow imagining they could absorb their ferocity as they ‘bear bloodstained swords to battle’.
Intimidation was just one psychological tactic deployed by the Vikings. Another was the element of surprise — these accomplished shipwrights and navigators could launch their amphibious assaults in tides and weather conditions that were daunting to their enemies.
Their longboats were described by one Viking poet as ‘wave stallions’ and they painted ravens on the sails, joking grimly that these flesh-devouring birds were brothers-in-arms who followed them into combat to feast on the dead.
The raids were triggered by overpopulation and food shortages in their Scandinavian homelands, and the knowledge that Britain and Ireland had inadequate defences. But although the treasures in churches and monasteries could be easily plundered, still the Vikings fought among themselves when dividing the spoils.
The losers in these feuds suffered ritual and unimaginably cruel deaths. Torf-Einar, the one-eyed Viking ruler of Orkney, ordered his men to carve the outline of an eagle on a prisoner’s back, slice the ribs from the backbone and then pull out the man’s lungs as an offering to the god, Odin.
For Vikings, killing quickly and efficiently was a form of art, that had to be taught since childhood
Such appalling, ritualised deaths were also meted out to Anglo-Saxon leaders as the Vikings colonised land from Scotland to East Anglia — an area that became known as Danelaw. Being a superstitious people who understood the concept of an afterlife, they were impressed by the Christian beliefs of those they conquered.
Viking rulers such as King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway realised the advantage of embracing a religion which suggested that those who followed their monarch were also following the will of God. However, the Viking version of Christianity was characteristically violent.
‘It is my will that you shall be baptised and all the folk that serve you,’ Tryggvason informed Earl Sigurd of Orkney. ‘Else you shall die here at once, and I will ravage all the isles with fire and sword.’
Only in 10th-century England did they meet their match, losing to Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great, whose peasant army fought alongside professional soldiers — proving the Vikings were not invincible.
Finally defeated, they were allowed to settle in Danelaw as subjects of Alfred and his descendants — bu the Vikings had not done with thoughts of conquest yet.
In 1066, Harald Hardrada, the last great Viking leader, was defeated in
his attempts to conquer England. Killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, he left the English throne to be fought over by the Anglo-Saxon King Harold, and William, leader of the Normans — descendants of the Vikings who had settled in northern France. Clearly the Viking warrior spirit lived on in William the Conquerer and his men, combined with the latest continental combat techniques.
Armed with deadly lances, Norman knights fought on horseback, charging through their opponents hacking at them from above, backed by missiles from bows and crossbows.
As history records, William was ultimately the victor at the Battle of Hastings but, although Harold was killed there, it has been suggested he is not the warrior pulling an arrow from his eye as famously shown in the Bayeux tapestry. Some historians believe that his death came instead from a blow to his thigh from a mounted Norman swordsman, delivered with such force that archaeologists believe it would have driven through the chainmail to his flesh and bone.
Either way, it was a killing of which William’s Viking ancestors would no doubt have been proud. Their hair colour may not have been what we’ve long imagined but, whether brown-haired or blond, there is no question their colourful combat skills made them unbelievably brutal warriors.
Tajudeen Yusuf, a member of the house of representatives from Kogi state, says the European Union (EU) and UK should take their cue from the US and impose visa restrictions on riggers of elections in Nigeria.
On Monday, the US imposed visa restrictions on some individuals for their actions during the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections.
The identities of those affected by the ban are not yet known.
In a statement on Thursday, Yusuf who represents Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency in the lower legislative chamber, said there must not be a repeat of what happened at the Osun governorship poll “where they casually engineered an inconclusive election to manipulate and win through the back door”.
The legislator said in five years, the country has witnessed 22 inconclusive elections under the All Progressives Congress (APC) as against the 16-year period of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when the country only witnessed one inconclusive poll.
“PDP members are joining Edo state people and all true democrats across Nigeria to call upon the United States, the EU, UK and all other countries to insist that there must be no repeat of the APC’s trick in Osun state where they casually engineered an ‘inconclusive election’ to manipulate and win through the back door,” he said.
“We shall continue to commend the USA for wielding the big stick against those who played inglorious, despicable roles in the violent rape of democracy during Kogi state’s last governorship elections; replication of such visa ban by the EU, UK and other developed countries will tame APC leaders’ penchant for foreign trips and further reassure Nigerian democrats.
“It is curious and alarming to hear that this government consistently rewards those who unashamedly subvert the people’s will during the electioneering process; for instance, a top INEC official who perpetrated ungodly roles in the 2019 Kano state elections was rewarded with more sensitive responsibilities, posted to Kogi state where further compromise was glaring and now, this same person has been posted to Edo state for next Saturday’s governorship election!
“It is historically regrettable for the nation that those who came to power professing positive change and progressive democracy have instead brought unprecedented nepotism, worsened insecurity, economic misery, high unemployment and grand schemes to thwart democracy through various means, including ‘inconclusive election’.
“All through the PDP years from May 1999 to May 2015, only one inconclusive election was recorded but sadly just between May 2015 and now, the APC leadership has given Nigeria twenty-two inconclusive elections, with clear suspicions of its inclination towards having more of such anti-democratic accomplishments.”
Members of the European Parliament have condemned Turkey’s actions in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Greece and Cyprus and have expressed full solidarity with the two member states of the European Union.
They have also expressed concern about the ongoing dispute and the risk of military escalation between the EU member states and the EU candidate state.
This comes before the September 24-25 special session of the European Council devoted the dangerous escalation and Turkey’s role in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The EU has declared that it clearly and resolutely protects its interests and that the Members of the European Parliament call on Turkey to immediately end any future unlawful intelligence and drilling activities in the Mediterranean, refrain from violating the airspace of Greece and the territorial waters of Greece and Cyprus and stop the nationalist and belligerent rhetoric.
European Parliament from EU, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
European Parliament blasts Turkey in resolution calling for immediate end of illegal actions against Greece
With 601 votes in favor, 57 against and 36 abstentions, the Plenary Session of the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Turkey’s illegal actions in the exclusive economic zone of Greece and Cyprus, while reiterating its full solidarity with the two Member States.
The EP also expressed its concern about the ongoing conflict and the risk of further military escalation between the EU Member States and a candidate country and calls on the Council to consider additional sanctions in the event of Ankara’s non-compliance.
Ahead of the European Council meeting on 24/25 September which will examine the dangerous escalation and Turkey’s role in the Eastern Mediterranean, MEPs expressed their full solidarity with Greece and Cyprus and stated that the EU is clear and determined to defend its interests.
MEPs urged Turkey to immediately end illegal exploration and drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, not to violate Greek airspace and Greek and Cypriot territorial waters, and to stop “nationalist rhetoric”.
Finally, the European Parliament emphasised the need for dialogue and co-operation to avoid sanctions on Turkey and called on the Council to prepare further measures in the event of no progress with Ankara.
Secretary-General António Guterresinformed a High-level Ministerial meeting, that there were more than 2,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Yemen, and with war having “decimated the country’s health facilities”, the need for a negotiated political settlement to end the conflict is more urgent than ever.
He recalled his personal attachment to the country, which dates back to his time as High Commissioner for Refugees. “I will never forget the generosity of the Yemeni people in hosting refugees”, he said. “Since assuming the position of Secretary-General, I have constantly sought to do whatever I can to help find a peaceful resolution to the conflict”.
He noted that the war has not only brought State institutions to the verge of collapse but also “reversed development by decades”.
And despite initial expressions of support by the warring parties for a global ceasefire and Yemeni-specific truce, “the conflict continues unabated”, he said.
Perishing at home
In recent weeks, the conflict that has persisted for more than five years between the Saudi-backed coalition supporting the internationally recognized Government, and the Houthi rebels formally known as Ansar Allah, has escalated.
“Airstrikes and ground clashes result in many civilian casualties, and Houthi drone and missile attacks on the Kingdom of SaudiArabia persist”, flagged the UN chief.
Moreover, more civilians were killed in August than any other month this year, with one-in-four slain and injured in their own homes.
Mr. Guterres echoed his call for all parties to cooperate without preconditions, in efforts to reach an agreement on the Joint Declaration, which is comprised of a nationwide ceasefire, economic and humanitarian confidence-building measures, and a resumption of peace talks.
Build on milestones
The Secretary-General said that the military escalation between Houthi fighters and the army in Ma’rib – where more than one million civilians have sought shelter since 2015 – only serves to derail peace efforts.
He emphasized that the need to build on the UN-brokered Stockholm Agreement of December 2018, and the Saudi-facilitated Riyadh Agreement, which lays the groundwork for sustainable peace.
Mr. Guterres urged all parties to cease hostilities and reiterated the UN’s continued support in implementing the agreements.
Oil tanker dangers
Turning to the SAFER oil tanker wreck, moored off the western coast of Yemen, the UN chief expressed his deep concern that having had almost no maintenance for five years, “an oil spill, explosion or fire would have catastrophic humanitarian and environmental consequences for Yemen and the entire region”.
He said it would close the crucial Hudaydah port for months – cutting off food supplies for millions of Yemenis, reliant on imports.
“I call for rapid and unconditional access for the technical team to the tanker to assess its condition, conduct any possible repairs and avert a disaster”, asserted the Secretary-General.
Essential funding
Regarding international funding and aid, the UN chief urged donors to disburse the money promised at the end of a high-level pledging conference last June.
He expressed concern the only half as much was pledged compared to last year, “so it is very worrying that meaningful sums still remain unpaid”.
To date, only 30 per cent of the UN response plan is funded – the lowest level ever, this late in the year.
Mr. Guterres said that critical UN programmes are closing down and the funding is “vital to prevent a devastating famine”.
“Now is the time to step up for the people of Yemen”, he told ministers.
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The European Commission on Thursday September 17th presented its new climate plan for 2030, including a tougher target to cut emissions to 55% of their 1990 levels, informs LETA/DPA.
Frans Timmermans, European Commissioner for the European Green Deal, said the future of the next generations was at stake if the EU failed to take action now.
“Only two months ago I held my first grandson … I also worried what sort of world would he live in when he reaches 20 years of age,” he said. “His entire future depends on whether we get it right – now.”
As part of the plan, the commission published suggested amendments to a previously proposed European Climate Law, including the new legally binding emissions cut target of 55%, up from 40%.
Timmermans said the commission would present a detailed plan of how to achieve that target by June 2021.
The European Parliament and EU leaders still need to approve the proposals, which are likely to face resistance from countries economically relying on carbon-heavy industries, such as coal.
Timmermans said some existing schemes would have to be extended to achieve a greener Europe. The EU’s emissions trading system, under which producers pay for the carbon-dioxide they produce, could for example be extended to include the shipping industry.
Free allowances would also have to be reduced, he added.
So far, net emissions have only been reduced by 22% compared to 1990, a commission impact assessment found. This includes net absorption and emissions of the EU’s land-use and forests.
