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The London Book Fair will present its 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award to Andrew Franklin, founder and publisher of Profile Books. Organisers said the honour recognises his long-standing contribution to independent publishing and the wider book trade
The London Book Fair has announced that Andrew Franklin, founder and publisher of Profile Books, will receive its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026.
Founded on April 1, 1996, Profile Books has developed a bestselling list featuring authors including Alan Bennett, Mary Beard and Francis Fukuyama. Among its best-known titles are Simon Garfield’s Just My Type and Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which has sold more than three million copies worldwide. In 2007 the company acquired Serpent’s Tail, whose successes include We Need to Talk About Kevin, with more than 900,000 copies sold, and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, which reached 800,000 sales in 2014.
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize also honours lifetime achievement, recognising writers for literary excellence alongside a commitment to peace. Recent recipients have included Salman Rushdie, who received the award shortly after a life-threatening attack, drawing attention to resilience within the literary community.
“We are absolutely delighted to recognise Andrew’s brilliant career with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Emma Lowe, Director of The London Book Fair, in a release. “A standout independent publisher of his generation, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Andrew has been an inspiration for thousands of people in the industry.”
Before founding Profile, Franklin was a director at Penguin Books and headed Hamish Hamilton. He is a trustee of Index on Censorship, previously served for nine years as a trustee of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and was the founding chairman of JW3, the Jewish Community Centre for London.
“I am absurdly honored to be given this award,” Franklin said, in a statement. “Some of my greatest publishing heroes are past winners and I really don’t think I belong in their company. It is a particular pleasure to be given this award by The London Book Fair, because I strongly believe that the book trade thrives on sociability. We need to meet, make friends, develop contacts, and exchange gossip. Writing and reading are the most rewarding solitary activity known to humankind. But publishing and selling books are social activities. It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a book fair to make a book.”
The Lifetime Achievement Award committee, drawn from the independent LBF Advisory Board, selected Franklin from a shortlist of international figures in publishing.
In a statement, a number of publishers and authors welcomed the decision. Amanda Ridout, founder and chief executive of Boldwood Books, described Franklin as the “very epitome of the independent publisher,” and “a great champion of other independent publishers large and small.”
“Andrew’s achievement in building Profile and making it such a success speaks to his incredible editorial ability, as well as business acumen,” added the author Francis Fukuyama. “This has obviously not been an easy time for publishers anywhere, particularly small ones intent on putting out serious books. It has also been a challenge avoiding being swallowed up by any of the giant oligopolies that today dominate the economy, while surviving the monumental technological change that has transformed media everywhere.”
The award recognises an individual who “has made a truly significant mark in the sphere of the global book world” and is open to professionals from any country working across international publishing.
Franklin will receive the honour at a reception during the London Book Fair at 5.30pm on Wednesday, March 11, in the Tech Theatre.
