The London Book Fair has announced that the recipient of the LBF Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 will be Luiz Schwarcz, Publisher, Companhia das Letras, Brazil.
Luiz Schwarcz is one of the most commercially successful and culturally influential figures in Brazilian publishing. He co-founded Companhia das Letras, with his wife, the historian and anthropologist Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, in 1986. Since then, it has made a profound and unique contribution to book publishing in Brazil, having published over 5,000 titles across fiction and non-fiction. It publishes 38 Nobel laureates, including Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, José Saramago, and J. M. Coetzee. In October 2016, the company celebrated its 30th anniversary; and according to Nielsen's report that year the Companhia das Letras Group held the largest market share of trade publishing in Brazil.
Luiz Schwarcz has received numerous accolades over the decades, including Man of Ideas (1987) and the "Making the Difference" award (2004). In 2010, Companhia das Letras was chosen as the most admired publishing house in Brazil by literary critics and scholars in a one-off poll run by the most prominent Brazilian business newspaper, Valor Econômico, in which it received 81% of the vote. The Companhia das Letras Group is also the largest holder of the Jabuti award, winning 206 trophies since 1988.
Luiz Schwarcz also has worked to improve literacy among disenfranchised groups. In 2010 Companhia das Letras led a pioneering initiative by creating book clubs with libraries and social institutions. Today there are 20 book clubs, including ones in prisons, hospitals and social organizations for young people living in poverty.
The London Book Fair's Advisory Board, under the chairmanship of David Roche, Non-Executive Chair, The London Book Fair, voted for Luiz Schwarcz from a shortlist of international publishing figures.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises an individual who has made a truly significant mark in the sphere of global publishing. It is open to publishers, agents, editors, scouts and anyone else involved in international publishing from any country in the world. Last year the award was presented to Baroness Gail Rebuck DBE.
The Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing will be presented at the International Excellence Awards, an invitation-only event on March 14, 2017, 6.30pm in The Conference Centre, Olympia, London.
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