The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards, which are held (for the second year) in partnership with The UK Publishers Association, celebrate success in 18 categories, representing the breadth of the international publishing industry.
The shortlists of the 18 categories have been announced today and we’re glad to inform that Anna Soler-Pont, founder and director of the Pontas Literary & Film Agency since 1992, based in Barcelona, is shortlisted as “Best International Literary Agent Award”. The other three nominated for the same category are Nicole Witt (Literarische Agentur Mertin Inh., Germany), Pierre Astier (Agence Astier-Pecher, France) and Tom Colchie (Thomas Colchie Agency, USA).
The awards, which celebrate international excellence in the book industry, cover the whole scope of international publishing, including academic and scholarly publishing, children’s publishing and digital innovation. In each award category the judging panel was made up of experts in that sector.
The awards will be presented at a gala evening in London on April 14th, hosted by the BBC’s Gavin Esler. The invite-only event will be attended by publishers from around the world and will take place at the stunning new London Book Fair venue London Olympia in The Conference Centre.
Pontas Literary & Film Agency was the 5th top international fiction dealmaker of the year 2014 according to Publishers Marketplace; Pontas represented "the novel of the Frankfurt Book Fair" last October (This Too Shall Pass by Milena Busquets), whose translation rights (sold to 30 publishers in record time) reached the highest advances ever paid for an unknown author in Spanish language of an unpublished novel.
Photos: Anna Soler-Pont replying emails from anywhere in the world. / Anna Soler-Pont with Milena Busquets and Pontas' agent Marina Penalva / Part of the Pontas team at Frankfurt Bookfair 2014.