Andre Schiffrin (photo credit Micheline Pelletier)

Never before has the control of the global conglomerates over the publishing, media and culture industries been under such scrutiny.

With Publishing Scotland, we present an event on Monday 22 August at the Edinburgh International Book Festival which goes to the heart of this debate.

André Schiffrin, the speaker at the event, was the Director of Pantheon Books for almost thirty years, bringing authors including Pasternak and Foucault to an American audience. His landmark 2000 publication The Business of Books expressed his belief that Western publishing was in a crisis, fuelled by the concern that the five largest conglomerates in the US controlled 80% of the books produced. His belief that this profit-driven industry prevented him from publishing books propelled him to resign and set up the non-profit New Press.

In his new book Words and Money, Schiffrin builds on his earlier arguments by focusing on the crisis in the general media, examining the European market to illustrate how the US corporate model has influenced practice worldwide to the detriment of serious journalism. He proposes measures to safeguard the future of publishing, bookselling and the press.

In this timely intervention into conglomerate ownership practices and philosophies, and what can be done to counteract them, Schiffrin will give a presentation and then open the floor to questions from the audience.

For further information and to book your place visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival website.

The event is organised by the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication in association with Publishing Scotland and the Scottish Universities Insight Institute Independent Publishing Programme of Enquiry.