The National Book Development Board (NBDB), the government agency mandated to develop and support the Philippine book publishing industry, in partnership with Primetrade Asia, Inc., will hold an online panel discussion on literary rights management and the importance of literary agents on 14 October 2020, 2-4 PM.

The seminar is part of Philippine’s effort to equip publishers, authors, and aspiring literary agents with knowledge on literary rights management to help them promote and sell books in the international market. The two-hour seminar will be held in conjunction with the Frankfurter Buchmesse.

What’s in store for participants?

The seminar will feature rights management concepts, best practices and red flags in rights selling and buying, best practices in querying, and the importance of literary agents. Esteemed literary agents from different countries will impart their expertise and knowledge in this online seminar.

Joining the panel is Jayapriya Vasudevan who founded Books@Jacaranda literary agency. Jayapriya has spoken at literary festivals all over Asia, from Istanbul and India to Manila and Singapore and further afield in London and Frankfurt.  The agency had represented authors like FH Batacan, Criselda Yabes, and Noelle de Jesus from the Philippines. Jayapriya has over twenty years’ experience of working in the publishing industry, during which time she has worked on several aspects of publishing – from editing to sales and distribution.

Another speaker is Beste Bal, the co-founder of Kovan Agency established to create all-round, high quality, and harmonious content by providing services in the fields of illustration, children’s literature publishing, and consultancy for promotional and design purposes. Beste Bal worked as an Internet editor in Milliyet Newspaper, content editor in the Yeşilist portal, and media and Public Relations Coordinator, editor, and translator in various publishers. She is also the project coordinator and then co-director of the Turkish Literature Abroad (TURLA/YATEDAM) Project for three years.

Also part of the panel is Thomas Nung Atasana, the co-founder and director of Borobudur Agency, a literary agency established by IKAPI (The Indonesian Publishers Association) to promote and license rights of Indonesian content abroad. Atasana was chief editor and international marketing general manager within the Kompas Gramedia publishing group.  He was also a member of the Indonesia National Book Committee in 2016-2019 and used to be a member of the National Organizing Committee of Indonesia as Guest of Honor at the London Book Fair in 2019.

This online panel discussion will be moderated by Mary Ann Ordinario, an award-winning children’s book author and directress of ABC Educational Development Center, an organization dedicated to the goal of introducing high-quality books for children that would promote the culture and heritage of the Filipino people.

Pre-registration

The Literary Rights Management seminar is free and open to the public. However, pre-registration is required. Kindly, pre-register through this link: ­­­­­­­­­ https://literary-rights-management.eventbrite.com.

For updates on the event, please visit our website at www.booksphilippines.gov.ph or Facebook page at facebook.com/nbdb.phil. You may also contact Ms. Mariden Balbona via email at maridenb@nbdb.gov.ph for other queries.