FEP Director and Hungarian publisher at the French Presidency’s Conference on the Future of Books in Europe

On Thursday, 24 February 2022, the French Ministry of Culture will hold the conference “What Are the Challenges for Books and Reading in Europe?” in the framework of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The conference will review some of the current European challenges facing books and reading, bringing together speakers from throughout Europe, representing the European institutions and the entire book chain: publishing houses, bookshops, authors, book fairs and libraries.

FEP Director, Anne Bergman-Tahon, will participate in a panel spotlighting how publishers are preparing to publish natively accessible digital books implementing the European Accessibility Act. The panel’s keynotes also include Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary-General of the LIA Foundation (Italy), Fernando Pinto da Silva, vice-president of the National Consultative Council of Disabled People in charge of the accessibility, universal design, and digital commission (France) and Ted van der Togt, researcher at the KB National Library of the Netherlands, expert in digital publications and accessibility. Laurent Le Meur, Technical Director of EDRLab, will moderate the event.

Later in the afternoon, Eszter Vince, the Hungarian Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association delegate to FEP, will testify during a roundtable about freedom of expression and publish.

The other conference roundtables will include panels on sustainable development of European libraries, bookshops and translation and distribution of books. The entire program is available on the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union’s website.