Frankfurt Book Fair returns with royal splendor and old radiance | hessenschau.de
After two pandemic formats, the book fair wants to create the framework for real encounters again: hardly any corona restrictions, many celebrities, a royal couple, a musical peace prize winner and old controversial topics are on the program.
Advance sales are booming as quickly as before the pandemic, there are hardly any corona requirements, the international celebrities are back: Can Frankfurt look forward to a book fair like it used to? The chances are not bad, according to Book Fair Director Juergen Boos: After “two very difficult years”, the Book Fair will finally be physically held again this year (October 19th to 23rd). The industry is looking for contact.
Vaccination pass checks, visitor limits – there WILL be no more restrictions of this kind at the 2022 Book Fair. “We have permission to hold this trade fair without restrictions,” said Boos when the program was presented in September. Nevertheless, everything will be done to enable a safe trade fair. For example, the wide aisles should be retained to avoid crowds.
Open to everyone a day earlier
The time at which the reading public is allowed to go to the trade fair after the trade visitor days has been pushed forward steadily in recent years. This year, for the first time, private book lovers will be able to access the site on Friday morning – and then buy books. Wednesday and Thursday the exhibition halls are reserved for other trade visitors.
Around 4,000 exhibitors from 95 countries have announced their attendance at the Book Fair. The advance sale is going well, said a spokeswoman, without naming numbers. Boos had indicated in the summer that the numbers were quickly approaching the pre-Corona level again. In the last year before the pandemic, more than 300,000 people visited the book fair. In 2021 – the year of the hybrid fair – the book fair will only have 70,000 visitors, another 130,000 will use the digital offers.
Spanish royal couple comes to the opening ceremony
For the official opening on Tuesday (October 18), King Felipe VI. and Queen Letizia of Spain brought royal splendor to Frankfurt. Your country is this year’s Guest of Honor at the Book Fair. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is also expected. The list of authors is also international again. One of the most prominent names is the American author Donna Leon, who is not presenting a new thriller but reporting on her life and work. Nobel Laureate in Literature Abdulrazak Gurnah is a guest on Saturday.
Other prominent names who have announced their visit to the book fair include soccer world champion Philipp Lahm, German-American Hollywood star Diane Kruger and pop singer Vanessa Mai. But voices like Luisa Neubauer from the Fridays for Future movement in Germany and Tupoka Ogette, anti-racism activist and author, also appear on various stages over several days – including the ARD stage in the Forum Hall.
This is what the ARD stage offers
Talk series, poetry slams and many well-known names and faces: ARD is again inviting prominent figures from literature, science, politics and society to its stage in the Forum Hall from Wednesday to Sunday this year. The authors change every half hour to hourly.
The program: Wednesday I Thursday I Friday I Saturday I Sunday
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Also in the city and after the end of the fair you will find as part of Open Books, the accompanying reading festival of the city, and the Bookfest city from the book Fair a number of other free events related to the book will take place.
Focus on Ukraine, Russia not represented
After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, no Russian publishers will be represented as exhibitors at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year. Russian citizens do not currently need a visa, and those who do not have a multi-year visa for Germany cannot enter the country, the book fair said.
Because of the attack on Ukraine, the book fair had already decided in the spring to attack the Russian national stand. It had been organized by Russian state institutions in recent years. Individual stands from Russian publishers are expressly permitted – but none have registered.
A special focus this year is on the Ukraine: Ukrainian publishers will present themselves on a 100 square meter joint stand with a stage. On the Sunday of the Book Fair (October 23), the fair ends with the presentation of the Peace Prize to the Ukrainian author and musician Serhij Zhadan. On Friday evening (October 21, 6:30 p.m.) he will perform with other Ukrainian artists in the Frankfurt Pavilion on the Agora.
TikTok new at the book fair
For the first time, the social platform TikTok is a partner of the Book Fair. Under the hashtag #BookTok, books are probably a topic for the mostly young users. In Frankfurt, users and providers should really come together: TikTok is setting up an outdoor stage on the Sunday of the fair (October 23) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Also new this year is the deployment of an awareness team during the trade fair. Visitors who feel insulted, marginalized or threatened at the fair, for example because of the color of their skin or their sexual identity, can turn to this and report incidents. The awareness team can be found with its own stand in the foyer of Hall 4.0. Calls for a boycott overshadowed the fair last year.
The reason: the presence of right-wing publishers as exhibitors. The book fair stayed the same in the following year: “It’s about freedom of speech,” said Boos before the fair. “Everything that is not forbidden in Germany can take place in Frankfurt.” From the critics’ point of view, the book fair does not make enough effort to ensure that the event is sensitive to discrimination.
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