The first fair dedicated to small and medium publishers, Più Libri Più Liberi (also known as Rome Book Fair) conveys its message directly through its name: more books for more freedom. 2017 will mark the 16th edition of the fair and this year, for the first time, the fair moves to the New Congress Center in Rome, La Nuvola, designed by the famous architect Massimiliano Fuksas: the exhibition space is bigger and the location renews the fair to meet the needs of publishers and visitors.
Più Libri Più Liberi throughout the years has established itself as one of the most beloved in Italy, both by publishers and readers. Being held on the first weekend of December, it is also a remarkable occasion to start shopping for Christmas presents, a fact that obviously has positive financial outcome for participating publishers. One of the peculiarities of the fair is also its attention to professional visitors. Although it is indeed a generalist fair, who never forgets that the reader is central to the well-being of the industry, the professional venue has acquired more and more importance throughout the years, and the Fellowship programme (now ALDUS Fellowship Program) has brought (and will keep bringing) international publishers to the fair to discover small and medium size Italian publishers and their catalogues. The fair also devotes a space to young people: a literary competition was created for children and teenagers in schools, while for university students it is expected – in two days – to enter the event free of charge.
The Program has helped many publishers creating relations that blossomed into useful collaboration and a continuous rights trade. Other important parts of the fair are its general programme, who always brings major authors and intellectuals to speak in front of interested crowds of readers, its profession – al programme, focused on bringing necessary knowledge to publishers and Più Libri Più Idee, a collaborations with the most important universities of Rome and Lazio region to bring publishing experts into their lecture halls, to develop and train tomorrow’s publishing professionals.
