Guest of Honour 2024 Italy

The Guest of Honour presentation sets a new focus at Frankfurter Buchmesse every year. For the Guest of Honour itself, its appearance is of dual importance. On the one hand, the country’s literature and culture receive special attention. On the other, its publishing industry takes centre stage at the largest international event in the world of books and media. The Guest of Honour’s presentation at the fair is a crowd-puller and a key topic for the media in their reporting.

The programme featuring guest countries and regions has existed since 1976. Initially, it focussed on specific topics beginning with “Latin America” (1976), which were presented every two years and organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse itself. Since 1988, a guest country or region has presented its literature and culture at the fair every year, organising and funding its appearance itself.

The goal of the Guest of Honour programme is to expand the international network available to the featured country’s publishing and creative sectors and its cultural institutions, while making its literature known internationally and increasing the number of translations of its published works. The Guest of Honour’s presentation provides readers and the general public with a new gateway to its literature and culture. As a result, the featured country’s society, its history and its current developments receive considerable attention – including in the international media landscape.

Any country can apply to be Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse. The application is usually submitted by the country’s national publishers’ association, which approaches Frankfurter Buchmesse. In-depth discussions are initially held about the necessary requirements: an up-and-coming publishing and creative sector, a translation promotion programme, a sufficient budget, and organisational structures for realising the desired programme.

Ultimately, Frankfurter Buchmesse chooses the Guest of Honour in consultation with the Supervisory Board of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. A contract between Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Guest of Honour – often its ministry of culture or publishers’ association – seals the partnership. The contract is usually concluded several years in advance. For example, the contract of the 2024 Guest of Honour presentation was signed in 2018.

The Guest of Honour is responsible for designing, organising and funding its presence at Frankfurter Buchmesse. Shortly after the contract has been signed, the Guest of Honour establishes an organising committee to begin the preparations, which usually take two years. The organising committee is often affiliated with a government ministry (e.g. the ministry of culture or ministry of education) and the national publishers’ association. A team of curators and project members is responsible for designing and implementing the Guest of Honour programme.

About one year before the Guest of Honour’s appearance at Frankfurter Buchmesse, an office is opened in Frankfurt with contacts from the organising committee present on site. In addition, a PR agency is hired to handle all the press relations, advertising and online activities for the Guest of Honour.

Frankfurter Buchmesse provides the Guest of Honour with approximately 2,000 square metres of exhibition space on the fairgrounds – the Guest of Honour Pavilion. It also supplies detailed information on planning, procedures and timing during the year the country serves as featured guest. Moreover, it helps the Guest of Honour’s publishing industry to network internationally through various programmes and trade events and to establish contact with cultural institutions and organisers of literary events, such as museums and bookshops in Germany.

Before appearing in Frankfurt, the Guest of Honour launches a translation promotion programme. For the featured country’s book industry, this means expanding its licensing business and the number of international publishing contacts – and not only during the year it is Guest of Honour. 

The highlight of the Guest of Honour programme is the presentation of the country’s literature and culture at Frankfurter Buchmesse in October. Literary and political representatives from the Guest of Honour country usually speak at the book fair’s official opening ceremony. The centrepiece of the featured country’s presence at the fair is the Guest of Honour Pavilion. This is where the Guest of Honour presents a specially designed exhibition and offers a multifaceted programme of readings, discussions, performances and happy hours.

The Guest of Honour arranges for some 50 authors, on average, to come to the fair. They appear in the pavilion, where the international exhibition “Books on …” is also on display, featuring publications about the guest country and literary works translated into multiple languages. Publishing houses from the Guest of Honour country are also present at the collective stand and in various thematic areas throughout the fair.    

Moreover, a diverse supporting programme is organised beyond the fairgrounds in the city of Frankfurt and other locations. During the entire year a country is Guest of Honour, a wide range of happenings take place throughout Germany, including readings, panel discussions, exhibitions, theatre performances, dance events, film screenings, literary-culinary evenings, trade conferences and parties.

Numerous publishing houses and cultural institutions take up the Guest of Honour theme, integrating publications and other elements into their programmes. The featured country is often represented before the book fair at other trade events and literary and cultural festivals. Book tours by the country’s authors before, during and after the fair also ensure each year’s topic is covered by the media throughout Germany. This means a multifaceted picture of the Guest of Honour’s literature and culture is conveyed even before the actual presentation at the book fair. In total, some 500 events relating to the Guest of Honour take place over the course of the year, both on the fairgrounds and at other locations.

The Guest of Honour’s appearance at the fair is not a political event per se. The focus is on the guest country’s literature and culture. The books and what the authors have to say set the agenda. The Guest of Honour programme aims to expand the international networks of the featured country’s publishing industry and cultural institutions. It also draws international attention to the country’s literature and to its upcoming literary voices and figures from its film industry and creative sectors. The programme’s goal is also to increase the number of translations of works from the featured country. For readers and the general public, the Guest of Honour’s presence in Frankfurt serves as a new gateway to its literature and culture.

Contracts are concluded several years in advance. For example, the contract for the 2024 Guest of Honour presentation was signed in 2018.

Some of the speakers for the official opening ceremony are determined by the office they hold – e.g. the representatives of the book fair, the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, the City of Frankfurt and the State of Hesse. The Guest of Honour country and the German government also provide speakers. Based on recommendations made by the Guest of Honour, literary speakers from the featured country are also chosen in consultation with Frankfurter Buchmesse.

The literary programme at the Guest of Honour Pavilion is curated by the Guest of Honour organisers and other relevant curators in cooperation with the publishers’ association from the guest country. In addition, many German-language publishers and cultural institutions invite authors and artists from the featured country to participate. An important criterion for inviting authors to Frankfurt is that they have a new publication available in translation.