Renaissance for non-fiction?

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  • April 19, 2016

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This year’s London Book Fair had a special attraction for writers and publishers of children’s non-fiction. On the Wednesday (13 April) a  seminar on the ‘Renaissance of children’s non-fiction’ brought Debbie Foy of Wayland (on the left in the picture), Elizabeth Jenner of Laurence King (on the right) and illustrator William Grill (centre) together to discuss what they believed was the revival of non-fiction as an important genre in children’s publishing. William Grill’s book, Shackleton’s Journey has created a sensation – will there be more ground-breaking non-fiction to follow? Most of the talk was about high-end books that might be bought as gifts, but the two publishers were optimistic about non-fiction in general – once something British publishers used to lead – finding its way back into bookshops and possibly reviews, too. Debbie Foy mentioned plans to start a new imprint which could include narrative non-fiction. Rennaissance? Possibly … Obviously, Nibweb members hope this will happen. Though some pointed out that it had never really gone away …

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