Aldus is a project co-funded by the European Union under the Creative Europe programme.

ALDUS – European Book Fairs’ Network

ALDUS is the European Book Fairs’ network, offering book professionals new opportunities to develop their careers internationally, building capacities and collaboration opportunities through dedicated events, professional content resources, networking and training activities.

ALDUS (named after Aldo Manuzio) is the European Book Fairs’ network, primary aimed at fostering transnational mobility of European literary works and book professionals.
Starting points are the presence in the network of the two leading B2B International book-fairs in the world (Frankfurt and Bologna), and the rich variety of national book fairs, open to the public (Rome, Vilnius, Riga, Lisbon and Bucharest book fairs).

The former are already the place for professionals to meet at global level, the latter have a big potential to complement this by offering visibility to national book communities at a European level. The partnership will foster targeted mobility between professionals, through visits and joint events, including workshops, training initiatives and fellowship programmes.
Book Fairs are traditionally the main events for book professional to foster business opportunities (in particular exchanging translation rights), meet, share experiences and partnering for co-editions, or other initiatives. In this context, the dialogue between publishers is a prerequisite for translations, i.e., for mobility of literary works, which is the primary objective of the project and will be supported by dedicated networking and training activities.

In the digital era, Book Fairs are also experiencing change, transforming their format, through focusing on new ways to increase the editorial works mobility, capacity building and helping book professionals to seize the opportunities that digital technologies offer to establish new relations with readers. Aldus aims at experimenting with new event formats in these areas, more interactive and engaging. Supporting publishers to experiment new ways of using the fairs to engage with their audience is another project objective.

All information elaborated within ALDUS events and initiatives, including training material and in depth resources on the topics of the network (internationalisation, translations, literature promotion, digital innovation) will be made available to the publishing community through the Aldus knowledge hub, an online platform for content and knowledge sharing within the professional book community and for the development of professional and social relations.

Aldus is a project co-funded by the European Union under the Creative Europe programme; it will run from June 2016 to September 2019. The project is coordinated by AIE (Italian Publishers Association) and involves two leading international book fairs (Frankfurt and Bologna), national fairs (Rome, Vilnius, Riga, Lisbon and Bucharest book fairs) and the European umbrella organisations of authors (EWC – European Writers’ Council) and publishers (FEP – Federation of European Publishers). The network will be increasingly developed throughout the project to reach a pan-European level.

The Aldus directory of translations grants is a global database providing a country by country insight on funding opportunities for literary translation projects. Designed as a tool for professionals in the book sector, the directory is meant to provide comprehensive and updated information on existing initiatives providing financial support for translating literary works, including details on eligible works, languages, funding available and links to the relevant organizations to be contacted for applying to the grants. Starting from the work done by AIE Research department, the directory builds upon the regular contributions of Aldus network members.

Working in publishing and looking for financial support for works translations? Check the Aldus directory of translation grants! Full content is available upon registration on Aldus website.

Does your organization provide financial support for literary translation projects? Contact Aldus editorial team at editorial@aldunet.eu to be listed in the directory.

Project website: www.aldusnet.eu

Key areas:
– Digital Innovation
– Literature Promotion
– Translations
– Internationalisation

Main knowledge exchange areas:
– Knowledge Hub
– Events

Coordinator / Contact:
AIE – Associazione Italiana Editori
Corso di Porta Romana 108, 20122 Milano, Italy
TEL: +39 02 89280800
FAX: +39 02 89280860
MAIL: aldus@aldusnet.eu

Project timeframe:
Start: 01-06-2016 – End: 01-10-2019 – Duration: 40 months
Project Reference: 570721-CREA-1-2016-1-IT-CULT-COOP2

ALDUS recent events:
– First Innovation Day
– The European BookFairs’ Network at the Frankfurt Book Fair, October 2016

ALDUS publications:
“European Book Fairs. Facts and Figures”, available for download here: European Book Fairs Brochure