The Frankfurt Book Fair kicked off on Tuesday, and it was clear from the beginning–and even from the days leading up to it–that the unofficial theme would be the crisis in the Middle East. At the opening press conference on Tuesday morning, held in a larva-shaped pod in the fairgrounds courtyard, keynote speaker journalist Gaia Vince talked about climate catastrophe and global migration, but the first English language question from the press was about the controversy surrounding Palestinian author Adania Shibli. Since organizers announced last Friday that a celebration for Shibli’s book had been cancelled by the prize organizers and […]
Book Fairs
Malaysian and Indonesian Publishers Withdraw from Frankfurt Book Fair
Two more organizations have pulled out of the Frankfurt Book Fair, following FBF director Juergen Boos’ statements that FBF “stands with full solidarity on the side of Israel” and will “make Jewish and Israeli voices especially visible.” On Monday, the Indonesian Publishers Association (Ikapi) withdrew their participation from the event. “The Frankfurt Book Festival organizers’ decision to only support and provide a platform to Israel has undermined the ideals of dialogue and efforts to build mutual understanding between countries,” Ikapi chair Arys Hilman said in a statement. Today, Malaysia’s education ministry also dropped out of the fair. “The ministry will not […]
Celebration of Palestinian Novelist at Frankfurt Book Fair Is Cancelled; Emirates Publishers Association Withdraws
On Friday, a planned celebration of Adania Shibli’s novel Minor Detail, at the Frankfurt Book Fair was cancelled by the prize organizers, following the violence of the last week in the Middle East that began with an attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7. The novel was being honored as the winner of the 2023 LiBeraturpreis, a German literature prize for a woman from the global south presented annually at the fair. Published by New Directions in the US and translated into English by Elisabeth Jaquette, Shibli’s book depicts, according to the NYT, “the true story of the 1949 […]
Listening for Growth at LBF
The second day of a book fair always feels a little more familiar and easy to navigate. You think you know how to navigate the construction to avoid the most active cranes and trucks, and it turns out you can use most any entrance and now no one cares. You figure out how to avoid the 40-person line to get scanned for the sprawling rights center by cutting into the cafe on the left and swinging around. Lunch is still nothing but a selection of “sad sandwiches,” though you’ve found a slightly quieter bit of floor space in which to […]
Tower Cranes Loom Over Traditional London Book Fair
The tell comes as soon as you approach the venue: You may have heard that the Olympia, the venue for the London Book Fair, has some construction and expansion underway that could impact the show, even though none of this is made plain on their websites. But this is not an exhibition with a little rebuilding. Olympia is a massive $1.3 billion construction site, with at least nine tower cranes busily waving hello, built around a small, antiquated events center. (Think LaGuardia Airport, only more so.) There are three different entrances to the fair, each for different types of attendees […]
French Rights Manager Arrested Before LBF
Foreign rights manager for the French publisher Editions La Fabrique Ernest Moret, 29, was arrested on Monday at St Pancras Station in London on his way to the London Book Fair. When Moret arrived at the train station from Paris, two plainclothes London police officers stopped him on suspicion of terrorism, related to his participation in protests in Paris over Emmanuel Macron’s change to the pension age. The officers confiscated Moret’s phone and computer and he was arrested when he refused to give them the passcodes, the Guardian reports. Moret remains in custody. In a joint press release, Editions La Fabrique […]