From left, Judge Pierre Leval and Jon Baumgarten appear in a Charles Clark Memorial Lecture debate at London Book Fair, while Stephen King is the headliner announced to speak at BookExpo’s Adult Book and Author Breakfast in New York.
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
The 2017 Charles Clark Series Event
Highlighting its position as an international center for rights negotiations—as well as sales and distribution of content in many media formats—London Book Fair has announced a debate on the ‘fair use’ doctrine on the “middle day” of the fair this year, Wednesday, March 15.
Set for 4 to 6:30 p.m. in the Olympia London Conference Center, the event will break ranks with former presentations of the Charles Clark series, which traditionally presents a lecture. Picking up on some of the controversies of the day around content usage, the fair has engaged Pierre Leval, judge of the US’ Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Jon Baumgarten, intellectual property attorney and former general counsel for the US Copyright office.
BBC News business correspondent Peter Day is to moderate the debate.
The Charles Clark Memorial Lecture has, each year since 2008, focused on copyright developments. It’s named to honor the late British publisher Charles Clark, who was trained as an authority on copyright and championed the rights of authors and publishers.
The Clark series, considered a leading copyright event at London Book Fair annually, is a project backed by the Publishers Association; the Federation of European Publishers, and the Publishers Licensing Society.
Support for this year’s event on the Ides of March is also supported by the Association of American Publishers; Copyright Clearance Center; the International Publishers Association; the Copyright Licensing Agency; and the International Federation of Reprographic Rights Organizations, with sponsorship from Harbottle & Lewis; Proskauer, Taylor Wessing; Wiggin; and publishing houses Elsevier and Pearson.
More about the fair itself, running early this year—March 14-16 with the Quantum Conference on Monday March 13—is here.
Stephen King and Son Owen King at BookExpo
This year going without “America” in its name, BookExpo—at New York City’s Javits Center May 31 to June 2—has announced that Stephen King and his son and co-author Owen King will headline the annual Adult Book and Author Breakfast, set for the Thursday of the trade show, June 1.
The father-son collaboration is the forthcoming novel Sleeping Beauties, and the duo will make an introduction to the event, handing off after their prologue to actress and comedian Whitney Cummings. Her upcoming memoir is I’m Fine…And Other Lies.
Owen King
Also on the program, set for 8 a.m. that day, are Capt. Scott Kelly; Kenya Barris; Jesmyn Ward; and Claire Messud. They’ll all be speaking about their new releases to come.
ReedPOP’s press materials say that the breakfast will feature “an updated, more interactive format” to “showcase more authors than ever before” and giving the audience a chance to raise questions. The annual Children’s Book and Author Breakfast follows on the Friday of the fair, which has two show-floor days this year, not three. ReedPOP’s BookCon, of course, is set for the Saturday and Sunday.
Brien McDonald
In a prepared statement, BookExpo’s event director Brien McDonald is quoted, saying, “Our Adult Book and Author Breakfast is always a highlight of the show, drawing more than a thousand attendees interested in discovering new books and engaging with some of the most prominent authors in literature today.
“It will be a truly memorable morning. This event is just one of many at BookExpo this year that furthers our mission to use books as a unifying platform and a place where all voices can be heard.
“We are working to showcase throughout BookExpo a diverse range of authors who can each offer a unique perspective on both literature and the world around us.”