Emma Lowe has been named to succeed Adam Ridgway as London Book Fair director, her first staging of the trade show being the 2026 iteration. Images: Publishing Perspectives, London Book Fair/Midas
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
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Lowe Takes Up Her Post in July
One week to the day after the conclusion of the 2025 London Book Fair on Thursday (March 13), RX (Relx) has announced that Emma Lowe is to become director of the trade show, starting in July.
Gareth Rapley, who was the director for the 2023 and 2024 editions of the show, now is interim portfolio director for London Book Fair at RX, and is to oversee the fair’s off-season activities until Lowe takes up her new position in the summer.
The 2025 director, Adam Ridgway—who made a point of telling Publishing Perspectives, “I made a decision that I would stay here until I retired”—is now known to be retiring and thus becomes, with Andy Ventris (2022), one of the two one-year directors London Book Fair has had since Jacks Thomas stepped away after a seven-year stint.
Related article: London Book Fair’s Adam Ridgway: ‘There’s a Lot To Learn. Image: London Book Fair
Ridgway, who is one of the three directors to have to contend with Olympia London’s long-running redevelopment, has spent 36 years in the business of staging conferences and exhibition events, RX says. In his interview with us, he declined to say how far he was then (not far) from that retirement.
The distinction in Lowe’s appointment, however, will be clear to many in the UK’s small and close-knit professional book-publishing industry: Lowe is not only a director who has been a member of that community for years, but prior to 2014 worked with Reed Exhibitions (RX) on London Book Fair.
Lowe is known as a careful, effective, detail-oriented administrator whose pleasure in her work can be infectious and whose warm personality makes her supportive of colleagues.
She was with The Bookseller from 2014, handling publisher relations and many aspects of that news medium’s events programming. After Nigel Roby‘s departure as owner of The Bookseller and the publication’s sale to Hugh Comerford’s The Stage Media Company Ltd., Lowe continued to direct publisher relations for The Bookseller and to direct business relations for The Stage magazine, running sales teams and managing The Bookseller’s British Book Awards and other programs.
A restructuring at The Stage Media prompted her departure in 2023 and she worked for a time as publishing account director at the digital distributor (audiobooks, ebooks) Glassboxx, before taking up her post as head of internal and external events with HarperCollins UK in 2024.
Lowe: ‘An Important Moment for In-Person Business’
In comments readied for today’s announcement, Lowe is quoted, saying, “London Book Fair was my runway into this wonderful world of books and I’m delighted to be returning at such an important moment for in-person businesses. We’re an industry that thrives on face-to-face interaction and the moments when we come together are absolutely vital to our publishing ecosystem.
“I’ve loved my year at HarperCollins. Being part of the dynamic team that organized the unveiling and celebration of the new warehouse at Robroyston was a particular highlight and honor. I’ve learned an enormous amount working alongside Fiona Allen and her exceptional communications team, which I will miss greatly. But opportunities like this don’t come up very often and having gone from The Bookseller to a tech disruptor, to a Big Four publisher, I’m hugely excited to be getting back to my roots at the center of the trade, and reinforcing London as the natural home of the international rights business.”
David Roche
David Roche, non-executive chair of London Book Fair’s advisory board, says, “Emma Lowe is the ideal person to lead LBF, particularly with the resurgence of book fairs post-COVID and a fully operational Olympia coming-on stream over the next couple of years.
“She has a unique set of skills and experiences, having worked for Reed/LBF and The Bookseller, for publishing services companies, and in the progressive industry giant, HarperCollins.
“This combination will be welcomed by the trade, as will Emma’s empathetic personality and winning persona, as well as the stability her appointment brings. The LBF advisory board and I look forward to working with Emma and her team.”
Gareth Rapley
And Rapley says, “We’re thrilled to have found someone who has the unique combination of experience of RX, knowledge of LBF, and a well-rounded understanding of the book industry. The last few years have been a time of great change for the fair, following the disruption caused by the pandemic and the ongoing reconstruction works at Olympia.
“We have absolute confidence that Emma will take the fair forward in the coming years, applying her extensive and first-hand knowledge of the sector to deliver a successful show that remains relevant to the entire industry and enables it to thrive.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on London Book Fair is here, more on rights and licensing in the book industry is here, more on book fairs and trade shows in the world publishing industry is here, and more on the United Kingdom’s publishing market is here.
Porter Anderson is a former associate editor of The FutureBook at The Bookseller.
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