In September 2022 the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) announced two significant new awards for publishing rights professionals, to be presented each year at the Sharjah Publishers Conference. Designed to support rights professionals and enhance opportunities for industry growth, the $5,000 Sharjah Rights Connection Awards are presented in two categories: firstly, for an individual professional selling translation rights at a publishing company, and secondly, for independent professionals or those working with specialised agencies to sell the rights to books to publishers and other licensors. [related]
In 2022, Mauro Spagnol of Books-Everywhere was the inaugural winner of the category for an independent. rights professional. We caught up with him to ask a little about what winning this award meant to him.
Can you tell us a little about your business?
Books-Everywhere is a literary agency based in London, representing European independent publishers of children’s books, which was set up in April 2020. The aim is to show how in other European countries topics, illustrations and titles are approached in a different way. We have at the moment eleven publishers in our portfolio. Some we represent in full, some only on a project-by-project basis. We sell rights and co-edition for our publishers, mostly directly to foreign publishers, occasionally with sub-agents in certain markets. On co-editions we operate like a U.K. foreign rights department for the publisher; this is a unique way to operate.
Was there anything in particular that the judges noted when honoring you with this award?
I have been in publishing and in the rights world for roughly 20 years now. I have a very extensive network of publishers I know, and I feel I offer a very personal approach, and very much care about the service we provide. I was not expecting to be nominated, and even less so to win! It was very overwhelming. I hope they saw the passion, the dedication and the hard work in creating a new agency during the pandemic.
What impact has winning this award had for you?
First the recognition to me that i was on the right track, second the visibility that we needed. The impact was felt for months and months after the award, which led to new contacts, new business, more awareness of who we are and what we do. The whole experience was very emotional. I have to say thank you to the sharjah book authority and to the sharjah international book fair.
