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| Frankfurt Book Fair 2007 From 10 to 14 October, the Frankfurt Book Fair 2007 is host to the world of literature in six exhibition halls. Once again, this year the organisers expect over 280, 000 visitors during the five days of the Fair. At the world's fair for the book and media industry, one can anticipate more than 7, 000 publishing companies from over 100 countries presenting 380, 000 titles. Already two months before the Fair opens, nearly the same amount of exhibition space has been booked as the record year 2006, when 7, 272 exhibitors took part in the Fair. Due to the previous year's high level of satisfaction amongst exhibitors and visitors, last year's concept for the Fair has been retained, but with all-round further improvements. One issue that continues to concern publishing companies, and the book trade in general, is digitisation. As the Frankfurt Book Fair itself becomes more and more of a media fair, this issue is the focus of many professional events provided for the industry and visitors are offered an even wider spectrum of media. In some areas of Hall 4.2 there are more bits and bytes than books! This is not only home to the "Digital Market Place" with its specialised providers of online products, but also to the new Web 2.0 Living Room where Book Fair bloggers and podcasters can be watched at work, now for the first time also in English. In its second year, this attractive nonbook area with attractive "extras" for sale in bookshops is twice the size it was last year. In addition, the Literary Agents & Scouts Centre has been expanded which was simply bursting at the seams last year. Accordingly, the organisers expect a larger number of agencies and strong rights business at the Book Fair 2007. As the year's most important fixture for the international book industry, the Frankfurt Book Fair will also be a giant cultural festival making a worldwide impact and expected to feature more than 2, 500 events. Every year, leading names from the worlds of literature, the arts, media and politics gather here, whilst a huge selection of young talent can also be experienced at close quarters. This year, such names as Zeruya Shalev, Nuruddin Farah, Saul Friedländer, Quim Monzó and Katharina Hacker are already on the list of well-known figures taking part in the Book Fair Programme – a list continuing to grow every day up until the Fair. More than just business and culture, this year's Frankfurt Book Fair is increasingly a platform for social and political discussion. It begins on the weekend before the Fair with the symposium "For an open Europe. European societies moving towards new identities", presented jointly in Frankfurt's city hall by the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Guest of Honour, Catalan Culture. Other arenas for intellectual debate at the Fair are the International Centre, with an Africa Day this year, and the Forum Dialog which features a series of events on human rights and human dignity. At the weekend and as part of the key focus "Education for the Future", there will be in-depth discussion of early childhood education and lifelong learning at the international conference "Learning Society". And there will be no shortage of festivities in the evenings after the Fair. The most popular after-fair parties during the Book Fair 2007 are sure to be the "Sónar Nits" at the Bockenheimer Depot, presented by the Guest of Honour Catalan Culture. Arranged by the organisers of the legendary Sónar Festival in Barcelona, Catalan cooking, electronic music and multimedia performances will combine to make it an avant-garde show night after night. It will also be worth making a sortie into town during the day, with Catalan Culture featured in Frankfurt's cultural institutions, presenting the region's entire artistic spectrum, with contemporary art, photography, illustration, comics, architecture, theatre, film, dance, opera and chamber music – featuring works by leading players on the current cultural stage as well as the great avant-gardes Gaudí, Miró, Dalí and Tàpies. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Exhibition News :: home page |