Frankfurt Book Fair
Frankfurter Buchmesse | |
---|---|
Frankfurt am Main | |
Country | Germany |
Inaugurated | 17th century modern era: 1949 |
Attendance | 286,000 |
Website | www |
The Frankfurt Book Fair (German: Frankfurter Buchmesse, abbr. FBM) is the world's largest
Several thousand exhibitors representing book publishing, multimedia and technology companies, as well as
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.[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.[
Significance
The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the world's largest
Organisation
The fair is organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, a subsidiary of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.
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
The
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,
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 (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 | 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
See also
- Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
- German Book Prize
- Books in Germany
References
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 978-1-55002-744-0.
- ISBN 978-1-55002-744-0. Archivedfrom the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
- ^ Fried, Johannes (1996). Il mercante e la scienza: sul rapporto tra sapere ed economia nel Medioevo (in Italian). Milano: Vita e Pensiero.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Get to know Frankfurter Buchmesse". Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Guest of Honour – Canada 2020". buchmesse.de. Frankfurter Buchmesse. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020.
- Der Bundespräsident (in German). 22 October 2022. Archivedfrom the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- from the original on 7 January 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
- ^ "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.
- from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
- ^ "Emirates Publishers Association pulls out of the Frankfurt Book Fair". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 15 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
- ^ "Slavoj Zizek brands Frankfurt Book Fair 'scandalous' for cancelling Palestinian's award". 18 October 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2024.