Around 90,000 attend Frankfurt

Around 90,000 visitors from more than 100 nations attended Frankfurt Book Fair’s (FBF) official trade days, reports Publishing Perspectives.

FBF president and CEO Juergen Boos said the number of visitors exceeded their expectations. ‘A strong international trade program and 4000 exhibitors from 95 countries have drawn numerous trade visitors to Frankfurter Buchmesse,’ said Boos. ‘After two reduced versions in 2020 and 2021, the 74th Frankfurter Buchmesse was finally able to take place fully in person once again.’

The last pre-pandemic FBF in 2019 drew 7450 exhibitors and over 300,000 visitors.

The Bookseller reported the return to an in-person fair was compared to a ‘family reunion’ by trade members. Publishers Association CEO Dan Conway told the Bookseller: ‘It feels like people want to be here, there doesn’t feel like there’s a huge amount of fear … There is a genuine positivity about it and relief to be back at a book fair, and I think that really bodes well for London and fairs next year.’

A M Heath rights director Alexandra McNicoll told the Bookseller that despite ‘challenging conditions in several markets, people seem hungry and keen to buy’.

The Bookseller also reported a ‘mad scramble’ for Shehan Karunatilaka’s Booker Prize-winning The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, published in the UK by Sort Of Books. PFD, which is handling translation rights, has ongoing auctions for Polish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Japanese and Spanish rights.

Category: International news