Real books and real authors at the Frankfurt Book Fair

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Frankfurt’s Book Fair opened five days ago as the “Global Capital of Ideas” and was distinguished by its vibrancy and the desire of its visitors to come together.

Frankfurt’s Book Fair opened five days ago as the “Global Capital of Ideas” and was distinguished by its vibrancy and the desire of its visitors to come together. Authors also demonstrated a willingness to occupy new intellectual spaces.

Due to the railway strike the day before ending at 6:00 am in the morning, travelers were hesitant to use early morning trains, which was ideal for showing up at the world’s largest book fair on the opening day, where few people entered the halls until mid-day.

One of the early birds was His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. Accustomed to seeing him dressed in traditional national attire, the Shaikh arrived dressed in a suit and tie for the signing of his latest book, “Culture, Education and Change (1997-2004).” The book, published by Olms Publishing House in Germany (Zurich and New York), has also been translated into German.

Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt, is also a Doctor of Philosophy with Distinction in History from the University of Exeter, UK, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Geography from Durham University, UK, just to name a few.

He has written countless books, received honorary doctorates from all over the world, and is known throughout the Gulf region as a firm believer in the significance of the role that arts and culture play in bridging the minds and souls of the people of the world.

The Sharjah International Fair (founded by Shaikh Sultan) is a focal point for the book business in the whole GGC region and is greatly admired.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the “do-it-yourself book fair” where publishers may expand their opportunities, cross international boundaries as a matter of course, meet new faces in the technology and content scenes, and reach maximum publicity with more than 9,000 journalists.

In the project, “Frankfurt Undercover,” more than 20 international writers met over a period of three days to address political issues from the particular perspective of authors.

“Exchanges between politics and literature can be fruitful. Perhaps the power of words and the power of politics should meet more often,” said Jürgen Boos, Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

With the first international summit, “Challenges in Education and Culture Policy,” hosted by LitHam and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the program included discussions with international ministers and experts (among them Professor Pasi Sahlberg of Harvard University) about current topics and challenges. In his keynote speech, Professor Pasi Sahlberg of Harvard University examined the latest challenges emerging in the international context together with Malta’s Minister of Education & Employment and Evarits Bartolo, in a discussion of today’s wave on migration and integration of refugees. The motion was chaired by Mattew Anderson of BBC Culture.

More than 4,000 book fair events are taking place over the 5 days of fairs this year – a record number – and authors such as Paulo Coelho, Ken Follett, Ned Beauman, György Dalos, and Rachel Joyce, to name a few, are taking center stage.

While the internationalization of the publishing business continues to accelerate rapidly, the strong cosmopolitan networking pursued by the book industry is quite amazing.

This year, the Frankfurt Book Fair has entered into new partnership with Samsung, combining mobile technology and the global publishing industry with innovative technologies.

The new Business Club alone brought together around 3,000 visitors from more than 50 countries to take advantage of its array of conferences, consultations, and networking services. In more than 70 sessions, approximately 150 speakers examined the issues and trends of the international publishing and media industries.

Almost 100 tech-based innovators from all around the world made use of the Hot Spot exhibition areas for service providers. As Boos said of the Hot Spots, “There’s probably nowhere else that shows more effectively just how many new ideas – how many new companies – there are at the Book Fair.” But in the content field also there have never been as many new faces at the Book Fair as there were this year.

“The publishing industry has a lot of charm and personality,” said Boos, “and – after an initial moment of panic, it is now demonstrating an astonishing level of mental agility, even in the face of digitization.”

Yes, it is exciting and amazing how many people are still reading books and how many authors are still writing them in our modern digital world where people only seem to read their email or Facebook. For that, it is inspiring and “a must go to” on my list for next year.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair – with 7,300 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, and around 280,000 visitors, over 3,400 events, plus around 9,000 accredited journalists in attendance. What could it be like next year?

The Book Fair also gathers key players from other media, including the film and games industries. Since 1976, the Book Fair has featured an annual guest of honor country, which this year was Finland. The future guests of honor at the Frankfurt Book Fair will be Indonesia in 2015, The Netherlands & Flanders in 2016, and Georgia in 2018.

For more information on the Book Fair go to: www.book-fair.com

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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