Author Bülent Ceylan in conversation with Evgren Gezer on Frankfurter Buchmesse’s Open Stage in the Agora. Image: FBM, Holger Menzel
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Juergen Boos: ‘Our Internationality Creates Relevance’
With the number of professional trade visitors and “private visitors” (members of the public) at Frankfurter Buchmesse having climbed even since the midweek report, the world’s largest international book publishing trade show is announcing significant jumps over last year’s figures.
- A total 115,000 professional trade visitors now are listed as having attended from 153 countries—as contrasted to last year’s 105,000 trade visitors from 130 countries.
- And a total 115,000 “private visitors,” meaning members of the public, attended on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday public admission period, a gain over last year’s 110,000.
This means that the total number of visitors this year is currently stated at 230,000. (With Frankfurt Book Fair having closed on Sunday, October 20, there can be some minor adjustments in numbers to come, but for the most part these figures quickly released by the organization are normally quite dependable.)
As we’ve reported in the “midway” stage when professional trade visitors are joined at Messe Frankfurt by members of the public, more than 4,300 exhibitors were at Frankfurt this year, presenting their books, other products, and services. That’s a 7.5-percent increase over 2023’s 4,000 exhibitors.
In addition, we now know that more than 7,500 news-media representatives were covering more than 3,300 events that took place during the five-day show, this time in its 76th edition.
As our specialized readership of publishing executives, rights specialists, and professional suppliers to the world industry already knows, Frankfurt’s formidable Literary Agents & Scouts Center, called the LitAg, saw a quick sell-out of its and the Publishers Rights Center’s tables—that’s a total 593 tables (over 2o23’s 588 tables) and they were booked by 320 agencies from 31 countries. Together, in fact, the publishers’ center and LitAg together had 355 agencies and publishers in place.
More than 38,000 visitors were engaged in meetings in the LitAg and Publishers’ Rights Center.
‘Strong Rights Deals’
Authors Equity co-founding CEO Madeline McIntosh gives the keynote address at the Frankfurt Rights Meeting reception in the 2024 Frankfurter Buchmesse. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Johannes Minkus
In a comment on the news of these full-fair numbers, Frankfurt president and CEO Juergen Boos says, “Internationality is our trademark. It creates the relevance that we have witnessed in the increased number of participants in all areas.
Juergen Boos
“From the perspective of our exhibitors and trade visitors, the 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse was a fair with strong rights deals.
“Collaboration and cooperation are also playing an increasingly important role. The publishing industry is reaching out to its neighbors in the creative industries, and vice-versa. Our activities in the area of cross-genre adaptations are becoming more and more important, something that has long been true of the film industry’s interest in Frankfurter Buchmesse, and it’s increasingly true of the games industry.”
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs
And Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chair of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany’s publishers and booksellers association, makes a special mention of the fast-rising importance of young people, both in the industry and in the consumer base, saying, “The book industry can look back on five successful days.
“Frankfurter Buchmesse has once again proven to be the main platform for exchange, networking, and doing robust business.
“At the same time, it was a festival of ideas, debates and new perspectives on today’s issues.
“And anyone who could not previously imagine the growing enthusiasm that young people have for reading experienced it impressively at the fair: seeing umpteen thousands of book fans celebrating their favorite books and authors increases the desire for books and their future.”
Fifteen Stages, Big Audiences
A program in the Guest of Honor Italy pavilion at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024, the piazza design from Stefano Boeri Interiors. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Johannes Minkus
Of special interest to many Publishing Perspectives readers—who follow with us many of the intersections of politics and publishing—the first-time “Frankfurt Calling” series in the Frankfurt Pavilion and other venues, which featured literary perspectives from international speakers.
At more than 80 talks, readings, discussions and performances, the audience watched Roberto Saviano, German Peace Prize winner Anne Applebaum, Yuval Noah Harari, Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, and Kohei Saito, among other. The topics discussed were as urgent as they were diverse, including the global trend toward autocracy (Appelbaum’s Autocracy Inc. is from Penguin Random House); the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East; Black feminism; and freedom of expression.
“The Frankfurt Calling program was organized in cooperations with organizations including the United Nations, Amnesty International, Memorial, PEN Berlin, and CORRECTIV.
Another of this year’s fair’s 15 stages was the new “Center of Words” in Hall 4.1, just up a floor from the Publishing Perspectives Forum in Hall 4.0’s Frankfurt Studio.
The Center of Words hosted some 80 authors, translators, and other speakers in more than 30 events with commentators including Roberto Saviano, German minister of state for culture Claudia Roth and Büchner Prize winner Oswald Egger.
More coverage from Frankfurter Buchmesse, which closed Sunday (October 20) is ahead, of course.
A session in the October 18 Charleston Conference at Frankfurt program, produced by Publishing Perspectives Forum. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Johannes Minkus
Our 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair Magazine, currently being read at Frankfurter Buchmesse by trade visitors, now is available in a digital edition here.
Download your copy here.
You’ll also read our focused coverage of issues and events in the Guest of Honor Italy program; book market trends in Brazil, France, the Philippines, the Czech Republic, and Poland; perspectives on the international rights trade from Matthes & Seitz Berlin’s Meran Mentzel; commentary from independent publishers from Greece, Colombia, and Kenya.
Also read PEN International president emerita Jennifer Clement on censorship ahead of the IPA’s International Publishers Congress; an exit interview with the outgoing IPA president Karine Pansa of Brazil; an interview with Scholastic chief Peter Warwick; perspectives on audio in Italy from Mondadori’s Miriam Spinnato; and more.
More on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, and more on Guest of Honor Italy 2024 is here. Publishing Perspectives is the International Publishers Association’s world media partner.
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