Beatrice walked at a fast clip down the street, fuelled by the square sausage roll she'd been served at the hotel breakfast. Around her, other people were walking with the same intensity towards the conference site, mobiles plugged to ears, document wallets under arms, and lanyards flapping in the wind.
She joined the queue at the perimeter of the Green Zone, and opened the document wallet she'd found pushed under her hotel room door that morning. She skim-read the text, and its familiar paraphrase of the issues facing the publishing industry vis-à-vis climate crisis. She couldn't help but note a complacency in the brief she had received, a recitation of issues that everyone knew but was doing little about.
As she reached the front of the queue, a solicitous security guard checked her credentials and Lateral Flow Test result, and motioned her into the venue with a wink.
Inside, there was a hubbub of noise all around her, and a set-up of stands and aisles which looked very familiar after her years of attendance at book trade fairs. There was even a preponderance of blue suits; a lighter colour than that typically sported by the world leaders last night, but similar to those worn by publishing men the world over. 'Hmmm,' thought Beatrice, picking up a copy of the day's events. 'I wonder how many EnviroManels there'll be?'
She worked out the lay-out of the venue, noting the location of the toilets on her way, and headed towards Stand 451. She read the legend above the stand, and focused on the work to come.
PUBLISHING FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURES
DON'T LET THE BOOK PLANET BURN
YOU ARE READING
The COP26 Kabuff: A Beatrice Deft Short
Short StoryThe world of international book fairs has ground to a halt for over a year and a half. But when Beatrice Deft, International Publishing Consultant, receives a summons to Scotland to attend an even bigger and - some might argue - even more urgent eve...
