Frankfurt Book Fair

Origins

The Frankfurt Book Fair has a tradition that spans more than 500 years. In 1454, soon after Johannes Gutenberg had developed printing in movable letters in Mainz near Frankfurt, the first book fair was held by local booksellers. Before the availability of printed books a general trade fair in Frankfurt had been a location for the sale of manuscripts. The initiation of a fair focused around printed books is attributed to Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, who had taken over Gutenberg's printing operation after a legal dispute. The fair become the primary point for book marketing, but also a hub for the diffusion of written texts. In the period of 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, it was the most important book fair in Europe. As a consequence of political and cultural developments, it was eclipsed by the Leipzig Book Fair during the Enlightenment. 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 Frankfurt Book Fair is a critical marketing event for the launching of books, but it is also an important event to facilitate the negotiation of the international sale of rights and licences. Visitors take the opportunity to obtain information about the publishing market, to network, and to do business. Publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, academics, illustrators, service providers, film producers, translators, printers, professional and trade associations, institutions, artists, authors, antiquarians, software and multimedia suppliers all take part in the events and business climate of Frankfurt Book 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. In 2009, there were 7,314 exhibitors from some 100 countries, presenting over 400,000 books. Some 300,000 visitors attended the fair.

During the fair the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is given, during a ceremony in the Paulskirche. The prize has been awarded each year since 1950.

The fair is also the birthplace of the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award which is given to the book with the oddest title.

Parallel events and joint ventures

The Frankfurt Book Fair is at the origin of other initiatives which would not exist without it, and which are very closely linked to its goals and, up to a point, management structure.

On the occasion of the 1980 Fair, was founded Litprom - the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature. As a non profit association, it monitors literary trends and developments and selects the best examples of creative writing from Africa, Asia and Latin America for translation into German, and to promote them in Germany, Switzerland and Austria by encouraging contacts between authors and publishers from the "Third World" and those in the German-speaking region; it serves as an information centre and clearing house about literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America; it helps establish and encourage a forum of debate about "Third World" literature.

In 2006, Litcam, a campaign first of all against illiteracy began. In this context, the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2007 also started a short story project named "Who's on the line? Call for free" by and for people with migration background.

Guests of honour, focuses of interests

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.

Some choices aroused criticism and 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. 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 euros towards the cost of the fair.