Frankfurt Book Fair

Frankfurter Buchmesse
Exhibition hall in 2008
Status	Active
Genre	Multi-genre
Frequency	Annually, in mid-October
Venue	Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds
Location(s)	Frankfurt am Main
Country	Germany
Inaugurated	17th century modern era: 1949
Attendance	286,000
Website	www.buchmesse.de/en

Frontside

The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, abbr.FBM) is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The first three days are restricted exclusively to professional visitors; the general public attend the fair on the weekend.

Several thousand exhibitors representing book publishing, multimedia and technology companies, as well as content providers from all over the world gather in order to negotiate international publishing rights and license fees. The fair is organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, a subsidiary of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. More than 7,300 exhibitors from over 100 countries and more than 286,000 visitors took part in the year 2017. ^[1]

History

The Frankfurter Buchmesse with the fair's tower (Messeturm, 2004)

The Frankfurt Book Fair has a tradition spanning more than 500 years. Before the advent of printed books, the general trade fair in Frankfurt was the place for selling handwritten books, as early as the 12th century. ^[2] A printers' and publishers' fair became established sometime in the decades after Johannes Gutenberg developed printing in movable letters in Mainz near Frankfurt; although no official founding date of the Frankfurt Book Fair is documented, it had definitely been established by 1462, the year that the printers Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, who had taken over Gutenberg's printing operations after a legal dispute, moved their operations to Frankfurt. ^[3]

The fair became the primary point for book marketing, but also a hub for the diffusion of written texts. During the Reformation, the fair was attended by merchants testing the market for new books and by scholars looking for newly available scholarship. ^[4]

Until the end of the 17th century, the Frankfurt Book Fair was the most important book fair in Europe.^{[ citation needed ]} It was eclipsed in 1632 by the Leipzig Book Fair during the Enlightenment as a consequence of political and cultural developments. ^[5] After World War II, the first book fair was held again in 1949 at the St. Paul's Church. Since then, it has regained its preeminent position.^{[ citation needed ]}

Significance

The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. ^[6] It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading.^{[ citation needed ]} It is a critical marketing event for launching books and to facilitate the negotiation of the international sale of rights and licences.^{[ citation needed ]} Book publishing-, multimedia- and technology companies, as well as content providers from all over the world gather.^{[ citation needed ]} Publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, academics, illustrators, service providers, film producers, translators, professional and trade associations, institutions, artists, authors, antiquarians, software and multimedia suppliers all participate in the events. ^{[ citation needed ]} Visitors take the opportunity to obtain information about the publishing market, to network, and to do business.

Organisation

The fair is organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, a subsidiary of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. ^[7] The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The first three days are restricted exclusively to trade visitors; the general public can attend on the weekend, for a fee.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2009, 7,314 exhibitors from some 100 countries presented over 400,000 books. Some 300,000 visitors attended the fair.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2016, more than 10,000 journalists from 75 countries reported on the fair, which brought together 7,135 exhibitors from 106 countries, and more than 172,296 trade visitors.^{[ citation needed ]}

Events and joint ventures

Frankfurt book fair 2016

The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade has been awarded at the fair each year since 1950 during a ceremony in the Frankfurter Paulskirche.

The fair awards the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, humoring the book with the oddest title.

Certain initiatives would not exist without the Frankfurter Buchmesse and are closely linked to its goals and, up to a point, management structure.^{[ citation needed ]}

On the occasion of the 1980 Fair, Litprom was founded – the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature. As a non profit association, it monitors literary trends and selects the best examples of creative writing from Africa, Asia and Latin America for translation into German. It promotes them in Germany, Switzerland and Austria by encouraging contacts between authors and publishers from the Third World and those in German-speaking countries. It serves as an information hub and clearing house about literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America, establishing a forum of debate about "Third World" literature. ^[8]

In 2006, Litcam, a campaign against illiteracy was founded. In this context, the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair also started a short story project named "Who's on the line? Call for free" by and for people with migration background.^{[ citation needed ]}

Guest of honour, focus of interest

Turkey's Guest of Honour pavilion in 2008

Since 1976, a guest of honour, or a focus of interest is named for the fair. A special literary programme is organised for the occasion (readings, arts exhibitions, public discussion panels, theatre productions, and radio and TV programmes). A special exhibition hall is set up for the guest country, and the major publishing houses are present at the fair. Canada's presentation as 2020 guest of honour was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ^[9]

Year	Guest of honour	Focus of interest	Motto
1976	Latin America	Latin American literature
1978	Kind und Buch (Child and book)
1980	Subsaharan Africa
1982	Religions
1984	George Orwell
1986	India	Indian literature	Wandel in Tradition (Change in tradition)
1988	Italy	Italian literature	Italienisches Tagebuch (Italian diary)
1989	France	French literature	L'Automne français (French autumn)
1990	Japan	Japanese literature	Then and Now
1991	Spain	Spanish literature	La Hora de España (Spain's hour)
1992	Mexico	Mexican literature	Ein offenes Buch (An open book)
1993	Flanders and the Netherlands	Flemish and Dutch literature	Weltoffen (Open-minded)
1994	Brazil	Brazilian literature	Begegnung von Kulturen (Encounter of cultures)
1995	Austria	Austrian literature
1996	Ireland	Irish literature	Und seine Diaspora (And its diaspora)
1997	Portugal	Portuguese literature	Wege in die Welt (Paths into the world)
1998	Switzerland	Swiss literature	Hoher Himmel – enges Tal (High skies – narrow valleys)
1999	Hungary	Hungarian literature	Unbegrenzt (unlimited)
2000	Poland	Polish literature	©Poland
2001	Greece	Greek literature	Neue Wege nach Ithaka (New ways to Ithaka)
2002	Lithuania	Lithuanian literature	Fortsetzung folgt (To be continued)
2003	Russia	Russian literature	Neue Seiten (New pages/perspectives)
2004	Arab world	Arab literature	Arabische Welt
2005	Korea	Korean literature	Enter Korea
2006	India	Indian literature	Today's India
2007	Catalan countries	Catalan literature	Singular i Universal (Singular and general)
2008	Turkey	Turkish literature	Faszinierend farbig (Fascinatingly colourful)
2009	China	Chinese literature	Tradition & Innovation
2010	Argentina	Argentine literature	Kultur in Bewegung (Culture in motion)
2011	Iceland	Icelandic literature	Sagenhaftes Island (Fabulous Iceland)
2012	New Zealand	New Zealand literature	Bevor es bei euch hell wird (While you were sleeping)
2013	Brazil	Brazilian literature	Ein Land voller Stimmen
2014	Finland	Finnish literature	Finnland. Cool.
2015	Indonesia	Indonesian literature	17.000 Inseln der Imagination (17.000 Islands of Imagination)
2016	Flanders and the Netherlands	Flemish and Dutch literature	Dies ist, was wir teilen (This is what we share)
2017	France	French literature	Francfort en français (Frankfurt in French)
2018	Georgia	Georgian literature	Georgia made by characters
2019	Norway	Norwegian literature	The Dream We Carry (Der Traum in uns)
2020	Canada	Canadian literature	Singular Plurality (Singulier Pluriel)
2021	Canada	Canadian literature	Singular Plurality (Singulier Pluriel)
2022 [10]	Spain	Spanish literature	Creatividad Desbordante (Spilling Creativity)
2023	Slovenia	Slovenian literature	Honeycomb of Words (Waben der Worte)
2024	Italy	Italian literature
2025	Philippines	Philippine literature
2026	Czech Republic	Czech literature

Controversy

The 2007 fair attracted criticism from both the Spanish and German media. German news magazine Der Spiegel described it as "closed-minded" for its policy of not including the many Catalans who write in Spanish in its definition of Catalan literature. ^[11] The decision to exclude any element of "Spanishness", defined as literature exclusively done in Spanish, from the fair was made in spite of the fact that the Spanish government contributed more than €6 million towards the cost of the fair. ^[12]

In 2023 Litprom cancelled the LiBeraturpreis Literature Prize award ceremony for Adania Shibli, a Palestinian author for her novel about the rape and murder of a Palestinian girl in 1949 by Israeli soldiers. ^[13] In response the Emirates Publishers Association and the Arab Publishers’ Association withdrew from the Fair. ^[14] In the opening ceremony of the book fair, the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek criticised Litprom and the book fair for this: "Here we are approaching the paradoxes of cancel culture. All that cancel culture does is exclude those who don't fit your [ì.e. the book fair's] notion of inclusion and diversity." ^[15]

See also

• Germany portal
• Books portal

• Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
• German Book Prize
• Books in Germany

References

1. Elm, Karina (4 December 2018). "Meet the German Booksphere! Facts & Figures for Europe's largest book market". insights.netgalley.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
2. Weidhaas, Peter (2007). A History of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Translated and edited by Carolyn Gossage and W A. Wright. Toronto, Ontario: Dundurn Press. pp. 11, 23–24. ISBN   978-1-55002-744-0.
3. Weidhaas, Peter (31 October 2007). A History of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Dundurn Press. p. 25. ISBN   978-1-55002-744-0. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
4. Fried, Johannes (1996). Il mercante e la scienza: sul rapporto tra sapere ed economia nel Medioevo (in Italian). Milano: Vita e Pensiero.
5. "The Frankfurt Book Fair – The World's Biggest, Oldest Book Event". The Balance. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
6. "Debates on cultural identity and on intellectual property set the tone at FBM16". Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
7. "Get to know Frankfurter Buchmesse". Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
8. "Litprom - Society for the Promotion of Literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America | World University Service". www.wusgermany.de. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
9. "Guest of Honour – Canada 2020". buchmesse.de. Frankfurter Buchmesse. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020.
10. "Rede: Eröffnung der Frankfurter Buchmesse". Der Bundespräsident (in German). 22 October 2022. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
11. Knapp, Margit (9 October 2007). "A Controversial Homage to Catalonia: Commerce Replaces Politics at the Frankfurt Book Fair". Der Spiegel. ISSN   2195-1349. Archived from the original on 7 January 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
12. "Economía/Empresas.- Industria destinará 6 millones para promocionar el sector editorial de cara a la Feria de Frankfurt". europapress.es (in Spanish). Barcelona. Europa Press. 6 January 2006. Archived from the original on 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
13. Kavi, Aishvarya (13 October 2023). "Award Ceremony for Palestinian Author at Frankfurt Book Is Canceled". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
14. "Emirates Publishers Association pulls out of the Frankfurt Book Fair". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
15. "Slavoj Zizek brands Frankfurt Book Fair 'scandalous' for cancelling Palestinian's award". 18 October 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2024.

External links

• Official website

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