215,000 visitors attend 75th Frankfurter Buchmesse
The 75th edition of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, held from October 18 to 22, 2023, reaffirmed
its status as the premier global gathering for the book and media industry. With a remarkable
increase in attendance, the event welcomed 105,000 trade visitors (up from 93,000 in 2022)
from 130 countries, and 110,000 members of the general public (compared to 87,000 in
2022). This growth marked a significant rebound from the challenging years of 2020 and
2021, which were impacted by the pandemic.
A total of 4,000 exhibitors from 95 countries showcased their diverse range of products and
services within the exhibition halls. The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg) witnessed
unprecedented demand, with all available spaces booked well in advance. The LitAg
boasted a record occupancy, featuring 548 reserved tables and hosting rights professionals
from 324 agencies, with over 35,000 entries. Media coverage was extensive, with over 7,000
journalists reporting on the 2,600 events held during the five-day fair.
Notably, the attendance on Saturday and Sunday, when the book fair opened its doors to
the general public for the entire day, saw a surge of more than 30 percent compared to
2022, indicating a thriving interest from visitors.
Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse, commented, “Our formula for success is
interest follows relevance. People come here from all over the world because they know that
a presence in Frankfurt is indispensable for their business. Added to this is the growing
political significance of Frankfurter Buchmesse in times of war and crisis, when defending
freedom of speech becomes all the more important. Salman Rushdie, our Peace Prize
winner this year, said it forcefully today in Frankfurt’s St Paul’s Church: freedom of
expression is coming under pressure from all sides worldwide. That is why the book fair is
needed more urgently than ever as an international platform for the free exchange of ideas.
And not least, personal interactions between readers and authors are playing an increasingly
important role. To facilitate these interactions, we created numerous offerings in our
anniversary year that were enthusiastically received by our visitors. The great success of the
TikTok Stage shows that – as promised by our anniversary motto ‘And the story goes on’ –pathways.”
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, Chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association,
emphasises and notes from the perspective of the book industry saying, “The largest
marketplace for books, an inspiring reading festival and platform for democracy and freedom
of expression – Frankfurter Buchmesse was all of this for the 75th time. At the book fair, the
industry showed that it is vibrant, forward-looking and relevant. Open social debates in
challenging times were just as much a part of the fair as the exchange on current and
coming industry topics.”
Whether climate change, crises in democracies, or war – international conflicts received
thoughtful consideration at the fair. The Frankfurt Pavilion was highly frequented as the fair’s
cultural and political stage featuring debates on the conflict in the Middle East, the war in
Ukraine and the protests by climate change activists. The book fair’s essence as a platform
for discourse was evident right from the start in the narratives and counter-narratives heard
during the fair’s Opening Ceremony on Tuesday, when remarks on the Middle East conflict
by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek caused strong reactions from the audience and the
media. As a way of keeping the Ukrainian book industry visible despite Russia’s war of
aggression and demonstrating international solidarity, a 200-square-metre collective stand
and a diverse programme of events was organised.
With more than 70 events featuring authors, poets and intellectuals from Slovenia and the
international literary scene, the Guest of Honour Pavilion drew huge crowds of fair-goers.
Thanks to its two auditoriums and sustainable architecture, the pavilion brought not only the
Guest of Honour motto “Honeycomb of Words” but also the Slovenian landscape to
Frankfurt. During the fair, numerous well-attended readings, philosophical debates and
exhibitions took place in the city, along with an exclusive concert by the band Laibach.
Since Slovenia received the “GuestScroll” from Spain in October 2022, Slovenian authors,
poets, philosophers, artists and musicians have presented their work at numerous events in
the German-speaking world. Some 100 Slovenian books have been published in German
and numerous titles in other European languages since the Guest of Honour project began.
The exhibition “Books on Slovenia”, which was shown at the fair, included about 400 works.
The 75th Frankfurter Buchmesse featured many colourful anniversary activities on the
fairgrounds and throughout the city of Frankfurt. One particular eye-catcher was the “75
Chairs – 75 Stories” campaign. Labelled with QR codes, 75 chairs told the stories of various
individuals and their connection to the book fair in Frankfurt. Among the stories told were those of Michel Friedman, Lina Atfah, Nina George, Volker Türk and Meron Mendel. In the
anniversary area, visitors could leave their own congratulations. Numerous exhibitors also
came up with creative ways to wish Frankfurter Buchmesse a happy anniversary – through
congratulatory banners, specially designed bookcases or oversize illustrations at their
exhibition stands.
The international trade programme featured training, discussion and networking events.
Considerable attention was given to the topic of artificial intelligence. In particular, the call for
transparency and a legal framework that protects the interests of creators could be heard
during the fair. Anna Soler-Pont (Pontas Literary Agency, Spain) spoke about practical
issues at the Publishing Perspectives Forum: “We have added clauses to our contracts
about AI to protect our clients. We want human voices to record our audiobooks.” During the
Executive Talk, Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, said: “It’s not humans
versus machines. It’s humans and machines. How can we use this technology to help us?”
The new Frankfurt International Stage successfully proved to be the venue for events on
book markets and industry initiatives in its very first year – with participants from Asia, Latin
America and Europe taking a particularly active role in the programme. The approximately
30 panel discussions and presentations on topics such as metadata, open access, education
independent publishing and sustainability were held mostly in English and received
considerable attention from the international publishing professionals.
The weekend of the fair (20-22 October) featured a diverse programme which allowed
visitors to experience international bestselling authors, TV stars and influencers. Before
Salman Rushdie was honoured on Sunday with the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade,
he appeared at the fair together with Christopher Clark, Lizzie Doron, Cornelia Funke,
Thomas Hettche and Amir Gudarzi at the Literary Gala organised by broadcasters ARD,
ZDF and 3sat. Lexi Ryan, Benjamin Lacombe, Motsi Mabuse, Guido Maria Kretschmer,
Verona Pooth, SASHA and many others inspired audiences at the Open Stage. In the new
Meet the Author area, fans had the opportunity to interact with Lucy Score, Rafik Schami,
Elke Heidenreich, Mona Kasten and Sarah Sprinz, among others.
Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024 will take place from 16-20 October 2024 with Italy as the Guest
of Honour.
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