Macomer «A blitz which excludes Sardinian publishers and AES, the association representing 90% of companies in the sector, from the Regional Book Exhibition, was carried out in recent days by the Municipality of Macomer. The municipal council, with a resolution dated 8 May, published on 31 May, has in fact identified the UNLA Cultural Services Center as the sole coordinator and manager of the Exhibition for the tasks of artistic direction and organization of the event. This is a decision taken in contempt of a desirable sharing of intentions, considering that the exhibition is the main trade fair dedicated to local publishing and that the AES, therefore the Sardinian publishers, are protagonists of the event who have contributed to give birth and grow since 2000″. The complaint is from the Sardinian Publishers Association, which published this note:
«The decision of the municipal administration of Macomer, denying any act or agreement, claims ownership of a regionally directed event, denying even the most recent past and mortifying the role, foundational as well as acquired in the field, of the AES and of the other subjects in the supply chain, never mentioned in the document. It must be said that in 2022, after several years of organizational fraying that had distanced AES from the appointment, an agreement was signed between the Municipality and the Association, sanctioning the return of the publishers. It states that “the event has benefited, over the years, from a series of collaborations with the various subjects making up the book supply chain published in Sardinia and in particular with the Association of Sardinian Publishers, a co-founder which has traditionally managed and ensured the themes, the presence of publishers, the presentation of book novelties, workshops, exhibitions, shows and moments of discussion, in coordination with the other main partners” and again that “among the various subjects in the supply chain, the Sardinian Publishers Association has assumed, in numerous past editions, an important role, contributing to their success with a good methodological, innovative contribution, rich in fundamental contents in the planning, cultural production and organization activities”.
«It is therefore not clear – continues the Aes document – in what context this improvident decision was made which deliberately does not take Sardinian publishers into account in the organization of an initiative which has as its main aim the promotion of Sardinian publishing, supported and animated by AES, which over the years, together with other book actors, has promoted the comparison between local and national publishers and with cultural proposals linked to the promotion of reading, such as “Adopt a Sardinian book”, in collaboration with the Association of independent Sardinian booksellers. It is true that, when budgeting for the 2023 edition, AES had identified a series of critical issues – including programming that was not always agreed upon and collateral events inexplicably placed at the same time, effectively weakening the offer to the public – but concluded by the publishers with the hope that the Exhibition would regain its own identity and underlying coherence, aimed at giving value to the normality of local micro-publishing, its authors and the entire numerous supply chain, in dialogue with the world but not in a subordinate manner. The coup of the Macomerese municipal administration canceled this possibility, ousting from the event an association that brings together the vast majority of Sardinian publishers and which, also on the occasion of the recent Turin Book Fair, contributed to spreading culture and ‘publishing, representing with quality and coherence the goodness of its cultural proposal”.
«Now we have to ask ourselves – concludes the Aes document – what will happen and whether it would not be better and more reasonable to suspend the event and postpone it to 2025, allowing all parties (publishers, booksellers, libraries, schools) to calmly process and thoughtful awareness, shared regulations, responsibilities and skills, appropriate and clear times”.
