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Report from Frankfurt: 53rd Book Fair Succeeds as Trading Center Between Cultures
International publishing community draws closer together in the shadow of current political events.
Report from the Frankfurt Book Fair Press CenterThe 53rd Frankfurt Book Fair was an occasion when the international publishing community drew closer together. In the face of current political developments, the Book Fair proved to be an important global trading center between cultures and a venue for dialogue. Books demonstrated their symbolic power as a medium for authentic exchange of views and ideas. German politicians such as Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Minister of State Julian Nida-Ruemelin took the opportunity of the Book Fair to emphasize the importance of the printed word for freedom of speech and the values of democracy.
Despite the tense political background, the first three trade days at the Book Fair were dedicated to international trade in rights and licenses. Naturally enough, there was particular interest this year in themes providing the insights that could promote better understanding of current events, as well as in issues of religion. Publishing companies from the Arab region, as well as from Southern Asia, the Middle East and Africa, attracted a great deal of interest. Long-term activities of the Frankfurt Book Fair helped to establish a tightly knit network of professional contacts and relationships.
The international participation was very high as usual, and again made a profitable license trading fair possible. We had less cancellations in the last weeks before the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair as we expected due to the political situation. Only 56 out of 6,700 registered exhibitors from 105 countries cancelled, among them 34 coming from publishers and agents in the USA. The volume and quality of business deals was barely affected by the cancellations. Individual withdrawals from Eastern Asia, in particular from Japan, do indicate on the other hand that more needs to be done in the years ahead on developing professional dialogue in these regions as well.
Guest of Honor Greece was very successful with the public at the Frankfurt Book Fair. More than 40 translations of recent Greek literature were presented by German publishing houses. The presentation of a very diverse cultural exhibition with spectacular use of multimedia impressed in the newly constructed "Forum". All in all, 45,000 visitors attended the Greek presentation.
As had been expected, total attendance at the 53rd Frankfurt Book Fair until Sunday evening was 14 per cent lower than last year with 247,117 visitors, caused by a generally reserved attitude among the public towards big events. The extensive security arrangements in place for the Frankfurt Book Fair were generally accepted by both public and exhibitors. There were no incidents.
The presentation on Sunday of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to Juergen Habermas honored a political thinker "who is regarded by a worldwide readership as the leading German philosopher of the epoch" (in the words of the jury). In his acceptance speech, Juergen Habermas referred to the obligation of secular societies to enter into dialogue with religious believers. His words met with a wide international response as the philosophical justification for seeking to achieve cultural dialogue across all boundaries.
Virtual Book Fair
All information on the Frankfurt Book Fair can be found in
readily accessible format on the Internet at
www.frankfurt-book-fair.com. Items at
the website include the complete Frankfurt Catalogue of
exhibitors, a Who's Who of international publishing with
15,000 names, as well as the entire Calendar of Events
(* Note: Also see our Industry Update column for more late-breaking Frankfurt stories)