The Leipzig Book Fair (German : Leipziger Buchmesse) is the second largest book fair in Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fair takes place annually over four days at the Leipzig Trade Fairground in the northern part of Leipzig, Saxony. It is the first large trade meeting of the year and as such it plays an important role in the market and is often where new publications are first presented. [1] [2]
The Leipzig Fair has its origins in the 15th century. [1] The Leipzig Book Fair became the largest book fair in Germany in 1632 when it topped the fair in Frankfurt am Main in the number of books presented; Frankfurt featured 100 books, compared to Leipzig's 700 that year. [3] [2] The success and importance of the fair is linked to the emergence of a vibrant publishing industry in the city. By the 16th century, Leipzig was home to the first daily newspaper, Einkommende Zeitungen , as well as the Reclam Universal Library. [2] [4] Catalogs of the books included in the sale were produced from 1594 to 1860. [1] Throughout the 1700s and 1800s, the fair was an important event for European book sellers, and was hosted twice yearly, occurring around Easter (Ostermesse) and St. Micheals (Michaelismesse). [1]
It remained on top until 1945 when Leipzig became part of socialist East Germany and Frankfurt, in West Germany surpassed it to regain the number one spot. [2] During the East German era [5] the fair remained an important meeting place for book lovers and sellers from both East and West Germany. It provided access to Western publications for East Germans, who were not legally allowed to purchase the material, but could read it at the Fair. [2] After German Reunification, the fair moved from the Trade Fair House Messehaus am Markt in the inner city (Markt / Petersstrasse) to a new location removed from the city center. After the move, the fair experienced a renaissance and continues to grow until the break by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, the fair aims to be for the public, above all, and to emphasize the relationship between the authors and the fair's visitors. The new orientation is necessary to compete with Frankfurt Book Fair, which sees a much larger volume of industry trading. The Leipzig Fair was one of the first to recognize the growing market for audiobooks and incorporate this trend into its concept.
In parallel to the exhibitions, the Leipzig book fair is notable for its reading festival 'Leipzig liest'. During the four-day fair Leipzig hosts over 3,600 events (2018) both in various locations throughout the city and at the fairgrounds, making it the largest event of its kind in Europe. [6] [7]
The Leipzig Book Fair was cancelled for three years (2020-2022) as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The 2023 Fair is set to occur March 23-26. [8]
The fair is the site of the presentation of several important German book prizes: The Leipzig Book Fair Prize (2002–2004 the German Book Prize), [9] and the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding. [10] The fair also sees the nominations for the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis.
In 2010 the fair experienced record attendance, registering 156,000 visitors and 2071 publishers from 39 countries. [11] In 2012 there were 163,000 visitors, [12] and in 2019, 286,000 visitors. [13]
Leipzig is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the eighth-largest city in Germany and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. The name of the city is usually interpreted as a Slavic term meaning place of linden trees, in line with many other Slavic placenames in the region.
The Leipzig Trade Fair is a major trade fair, which traces its roots back for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, Leipzig fell within the territory of East Germany, whereupon the Leipzig Trade Fair became one of the most important trade fairs of Comecon and was traditionally a meeting place for businessmen and politicians from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Since 1996, the fair has taken place on the Leipzig fairgrounds, located about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of the city centre.
A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of competitors, and examine recent market trends and opportunities.
The Frankfurt Book Fair 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.
The Games Convention (GC), sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment. Its concept was created by the Leipziger Messe in cooperation with Bundesverband für Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware amongst others. The 2010 Gamescon was held August 18 to August 22.
Booktype is a free and open source software for authoring, collaborating, editing, and publishing books to PDF, ePub, .mobi, and HTML formats. It was launched by Sourcefabric in February 2012 when Booktype evolved from the Booki software, which powers FLOSS Manuals.
Uwe Tellkamp is a German writer and physician. He practised medicine until 2004. Before the fall of communism, he was enlisted in the National People's Army as a tank commander and imprisoned when he refused to break up a demonstration in October 1989. Until the fall of the German Democratic Republic shortly after, he was prohibited from studying medicine.
The Leipzig Book Fair Prize is a literary award assigned annually during the Leipzig Book Fair to outstanding newly released literary works in the categories "Fiction", "Non-fiction" and "Translation". The Leipzig Book Fair Prize has been awarded since the Deutscher Bücherpreis was ceased in 2005, and is one of the most important literary awards in Germany. The winner in each category is awarded €15,000.
Dževad Karahasan was a Bosnian writer, essayist and philosopher. Karahasan was awarded the Herder Prize and Goethe Medal for his writings.
Iris Hanika is a German writer. She was born in Würzburg, grew up in Bad Königshofen and has lived in Berlin since 1979, where she studied Universal and Comparative Literature at the FU Berlin. She was a regular contributor to German periodicals like Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Merkur. Hanika won the LiteraTour Nord prize and the EU Prize for Literature for her novel Das Eigentliche. In 2020, she was awarded the Hermann-Hesse-Literaturpreis for her novel Echos Kammern. In 2021, she won the Leipzig Book Fair Prize. Hanika wrote previously mainly short non-fictional texts, later novels, including two books on psychoanalysis.
Judith Schalansky is a German writer, book designer and publisher.
Automechanika is the world's biggest trade fair for the automobile aftermarket. It is held every two years at the Messe Frankfurt. In distinction to the Motor Show, Automechanika is open to trading visitors only.
Juergen Boos is the President and CEO of Frankfurt Book Fair.
Jan Wagner is a German poet, essayist and translator, recipient of the Georg Büchner Prize and Leipzig Book Fair Prize.
Esther Kinsky is a German literary translator and the author of novels and poetry.
Harald Jähner is a German journalist and author. Since 2011 he has been an honorary professor of cultural journalism at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels is a trade association of the German publishing industry, based in Frankfurt. It was founded there in 1948 and merged with a similar Leipzig organisation in 1991 after German reunification. It organises the annual Frankfurt Book Fair, where the peace prize Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels has been awarded since 1950.
Teresa Präauer is an Austrian writer and visual artist.
The "Börsenblatt – Wochenmagazin für den Deutschen Buchhandel", until 2002 "Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel", is the association organ of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. The publication, founded in 1834, is the magazine with the highest number of advertisements and circulation in the German book selling trade. It came out once a week, later twice a week, and even daily for many years. The Börsenblatt is published by the Marketing- und Verlagsservice des Buchhandels. It informs the professional audience as well as private readers about news on the book market. Since January 2013, the specialist magazine has been published in weekly alternation as the "Börsenblatt Magazin" and the "Börsenblatt Spezial". The Börsenblatt Spezial highlights the trends within the various product groups. Current industry reports are published on the magazine's homepage.
The Goethe-Institut Award is a biennial literary prize presented by the Society of Authors and the Goethe Institut, London, for the best translation of a text from German to English. Past winners include Kay McBurney, Katy Derbyshire, and Imogen Taylor.
51°23′48″N12°24′10″E / 51.39667°N 12.40278°E
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