No crowds, fewer exhibitors, 3G: The Frankfurt Book Fair will take place in attendance again - and will be accompanied by strict rules.
The industry is optimistic at the start, but there is also a controversy.
Frankfurt / Main - The 73rd Frankfurt Book Fair is starting under the motto “Re: Connect” and with a capped number of visitors.
2000 exhibitors from 80 countries take part in the book show, which after the virtual edition in the Corona year 2020 is now taking place again in presence and with an audience.
The host country this year is Canada.
The 3G rule applies throughout the trade fair.
"Let's not kid ourselves:" back to business "is far from being" back to normal "", said book fair boss Jürgen Boos at the beginning.
And in fact, Frankfurt is still a long way from the pre-Corona period.
While more than 300,000 people flocked to the site in 2019, a maximum of 25,000 guests per day are allowed in 2021.
Two years ago, the number of exhibitors was 7500, almost four times as high.
The book industry was meanwhile optimistic. "With the corona pandemic, we passed one of the largest stress tests in history with ease," said the head of the German Book Trade Association, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs. A look at the current year is also encouraging: Across all sales channels, sales on the book market have, according to the information, caught up with the pre-Corona level by the end of calendar week 40 and are 0.7 percent above sales in the comparable period of 2019. In the The crisis has shown how firmly the book is anchored in society. "Social distancing did not become the distance to the book."
Meanwhile, the New Right publishers booth sparked controversy.
Jasmina Kuhnke, who wanted to present her book "Schwarzes Herz" as a surprise guest, had canceled her appearance at the fair because of the Junge Europa publishing house represented there.
The Anne Frank educational institution expressed its solidarity with the black author.
And Michael Müller from the left parliamentary group in the Frankfurter Römer said: “The Frankfurt Book Fair must not offer these publishers a stage, not even in the back corner.” In 2017 the presence of the new right-wing publishers had already led to protests and a demonstration.
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The book fair defended itself: Freedom of expression is a valuable asset, emphasized Boos.
“The book fair is the place that stands for it.
And unfortunately we also have to endure opinions or the presence of people who I would not necessarily like to have here. ”Inclusion activist Raul Krauthausen, on the other hand, warned against too much tolerance towards the intolerant.
The book fair was officially opened at a ceremony on Tuesday evening. After a year and a half, "in which reading material was even more food for the soul than usual", the fair is setting sail for a new departure, said Minister of Education Monika Grütters (CDU). Governor General Mary May Simon traveled from Canada, the guest country of honor, and the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood was connected live. However, a video link with the Canadian poet Joséphine Bacon had to be canceled due to technical problems.
More than 300 authors will present their books or debate social issues by Sunday. One of the main topics is “How do we want to live?” - in cooperation with the Franco-German television broadcaster Arte. "We ask ourselves this question in view of the alarming brutality of our dealings with one another, the seemingly unbridgeable division of our society," said Boos. It is also about the question of what contribution the book industry can make.
On Tuesday, the Börsenverein also emphatically backed the “Fair Reading” campaign, in which authors such as Juli Zeh, Daniel Kehlmann, Sibylle Berg and Judith Hermann, together with publishers, insist on their rights in e-book rental. “It's about nothing less than the future,” said Schmidt-Friderichs. Publishers would already be supplying e-book rentals with hundreds of thousands of titles - “and they like to do that”. But especially with the bestsellers, there needs to be a certain time window in which an e-book is first offered on the market before it is released for rental.
The trade fair will be open to the specialist public from Wednesday (October 20), and then to all visitors from Friday (October 22).
The fair ends on Sunday (October 24th) with the awarding of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade to Tsitsi Dangarembga from Zimbabwe.
dpa
