This and much more awaits you at FBM26
Frankfurter Buchmesse Area on the Agora
The Frankfurter Buchmesse Area can be found right in the middle of the Agora: a new gathering spot to settle in, relax and share stories. Seating cubes invite visitors in 14 languages to make themselves comfortable and tell their own stories. All around the area, publishers and events will offer space for discovering, taking photos and lingering.
Knowledge Hub in Hall 4.1
The new Knowledge Hub (Hall 4.1, Stand J100) in the hall for academic publishers and service providers will offer a central venue for practice-related knowledge transfer and interactions within the publishing industry. The space will be located near the workstations and can accommodate up to 25 guests. The events will complement the programme for trade visitors on the Innovation Stage (4.1 A48) in the form of presentations, workshops and other formats organised by exhibitors in Hall 4.1.
Collective Exhibition Comics, Manga & Games in Hall 4.0
The new collective exhibition Comics, Manga and Games is located at stand A76 in Hall 4.0. As comics are designed for transmedia storytelling like few other genres, the area has been expanded to include games. The focus is on storytelling across media boundaries: from comics and manga to webtoons, graphic novels and games.
Screen World in Hall 4.0
For trade visitors, the Screen World stage focuses on current films for children and young people, successful adaptations, and the question of which stories truly resonate with children, teenagers and young adults today. Located in Hall 4.0, the Screen World at Frankfurter Buchmesse also offers families, children and young people a special cinema experience, with previews of upcoming film and series highlights, film and book trailers, popcorn and many other surprises. The Screen World is realised with the support of Rich and Famous Film GmbH.
“Listening Lounge” for fantasy
Great stories meet great voices: at Frankfurt Audio, visitors to the book fair can discover the latest audiobooks and podcasts. This year, the audio area will span two hall levels: Publishing Partners will be especially visible at the Audio Business Centre in Hall 4.1, while audiobook and podcast fans will find the latest stories and talks in the public area in Hall 4.0. There, the brand new “Listening Lounge” (Hall 4.0 J9) will be putting the fantasy genre in the spotlight this year – complete with a silent audiobook disco, fantasy authors and audiobook narrators on site.
Book meets Game Day on Thursday
On Thursday, 8 October, publishers, games studios, authors and funding organisations will come together on the Community Stage in the Festhalle. The focus will be on rights, financing and the question of how interactive worlds are created from literary material. Practical examples will be provided by Pumuckl, The Pillars of the Earth, the story game app ueberstories from Ueberreuter Verlag, and the indie game Tiny Bookshop, among others. The programme will be held in English.
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“Digital extensions that don't replace books, but complement them in a meaningful way”
With the Wildcard for Publishing Partners, Frankfurter Buchmesse is awarding two free stands this year to particularly innovative service providers from the tech industry. One of the winners is the Frankfurt based software studio Garage51, which will present its ideas for digital and immersive content experiences at FBM26, Hall 4.1.
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Too much data, too little clarity
What do true-crime investigations and publishing archives have in common? Both are frequently inundated with unstructured data. The Irish tech start-up Druid Learning, 2026 winner of Frankfurter Buchmesse's Wildcard, transforms digitally archived content into AI-ready datasets. In an interview, CEO Niamh Faller explains how the process works, where the technology reaches its limits – and what a system like this could do with the Epstein Files.