Frankfurt Book Fair


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.
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.

History

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. 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.
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.
Until the end of the 17th century, the Frankfurt Book Fair was the most important book fair in Europe. It was eclipsed in 1632 by the Leipzig Book Fair during the Enlightenment as a consequence of political and cultural developments. 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.

Significance

The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading. It is a critical marketing event for launching books and to facilitate the negotiation of the international sale of rights and licences.
Book publishing-, multimedia- and technology companies, as well as content providers from all over the world gather. 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.
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. 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.
In 2009, 7,314 exhibitors from some 100 countries presented over 400,000 books. Some 300,000 visitors attended the fair.
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.

Events and joint ventures

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.
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.
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.

Guest of honour, focus of interest

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. 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.
YearGuest of honourFocus of interestMotto
1976Latin AmericaLatin American literature
1978Kind und Buch
1980Subsaharan Africa
1982Religions
1984George Orwell
1986IndiaIndian literatureWandel in Tradition
1988ItalyItalian literatureItalienisches Tagebuch
1989FranceFrench literatureL'Automne français
1990JapanJapanese literatureThen and Now
1991SpainSpanish literatureLa Hora de España
1992MexicoMexican literatureEin offenes Buch
1993Flanders and the NetherlandsFlemish and Dutch literatureWeltoffen
1994BrazilBrazilian literatureBegegnung von Kulturen
1995AustriaAustrian literature
1996IrelandIrish literatureUnd seine Diaspora
1997PortugalPortuguese literatureWege in die Welt
1998SwitzerlandSwiss literatureHoher Himmel – enges Tal
1999HungaryHungarian literatureUnbegrenzt
2000PolandPolish literature©Poland
2001GreeceGreek literatureNeue Wege nach Ithaka
2002LithuaniaLithuanian literatureFortsetzung folgt
2003RussiaRussian literatureNeue Seiten
2004Arab worldArab literatureArabische Welt
2005KoreaKorean literatureEnter Korea
2006IndiaIndian literatureToday's India
2007Catalan countriesCatalan literatureSingular i Universal
2008TurkeyTurkish literatureFaszinierend farbig
2009ChinaChinese literatureTradition & Innovation
2010ArgentinaArgentine literatureKultur in Bewegung
2011IcelandIcelandic literatureSagenhaftes Island
2012New ZealandNew Zealand literatureBevor es bei euch hell wird
2013BrazilBrazilian literatureEin Land voller Stimmen
2014FinlandFinnish literatureFinnland. Cool.
2015IndonesiaIndonesian literature17.000 Inseln der Imagination
2016Flanders and the NetherlandsFlemish and Dutch literatureDies ist, was wir teilen
2017FranceFrench literatureFrancfort en français
2018GeorgiaGeorgian literatureGeorgia made by characters
2019NorwayNorwegian literatureThe Dream We Carry
2020CanadaCanadian literatureSingular Plurality
2021CanadaCanadian literatureSingular Plurality
2022SpainSpanish literatureCreatividad Desbordante
2023SloveniaSlovenian literatureHoneycomb of Words
2024ItalyItalian literatureVerwurzelt in der Zukunft
2025PhilippinesPhilippine literature
2026Czech RepublicCzech literature
2027ChileChilean literature