The sixth Istanbul Publishing Fellowship, organized by the Turkish Press and Publishers Copyright & Licensing Society with the support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry, will bring the biggest publishers from around the world together between March 9 and 11 this year. The Istanbul organization will be attended by 300 publishers, including 170 foreign and 130 local professionals.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting is planned to be held in both online and physical formats with a limited number of participants in compliance with the coronavirus measures. This year's program is to tackle the latest developments in the publishing world, the course of publishing during the pandemic, digital publishing and online book sales models.
Some 869 publishers from 121 countries and 153 publishers from Turkey applied to attend the program. Ninety foreign publishers will join face-to-face meetings, while 80 others will attend online meetings. The publishers will discuss the spread of Turkish literature around the world, new copyrights in world literature and their value in international markets, as well as online experiences of the canceled book fairs.
Azerbaijan, focus country
The program of the meeting will introduce a series of innovations this year. It will start a new chapter called Focus Country, which will focus on the publishing and literature of a country and discuss it thematically.
Azerbaijan is the focus country of the sixth Istanbul Publishing Fellowship, a pick to promote the deep-rooted Turkish language and bring international attention to it.
The events to be organized with the focus on Azerbaijan's publishing and literature will be provided by authorized names.
Copyright prizes for 1st time
The meeting will also announce prizes for copyrights for the first time this year. The Istanbul Copyright Awards will be given to institutions that are considered influential in the publishing world.
The awards will be presented to contribute to the development, cultural cooperation and promotion of the sector by encouraging the exchange of copyrights from Turkish to foreign languages, to encourage copyright works and to honor achievements.
Some 52 applications from 26 countries were received for the awards.
The Istanbul Copyright Awards selection committee will make an evaluation about the publishing houses that applied for the competition.
The winner will earn a check worth $10,000, the second $6,000 and the third $4,000.