Frankfurter Buchmesse 2020 – Special Edition: online and in the city of Frankfurt, but without traditional on-site exhibition

Live programme with all-star speakers, events in the city and digital offers / Including: Irvine Welsh, John Niven, Don Winslow, Elizabeth Gilbert, Bov Bjerg, Cornelia Funke, Chilly Gonzales, Francesca Melandri / Traditional exhibition on the fairgrounds not feasible due to recent travel restrictions

Frankfurter Buchmesse (14-18 October 2020) will take place this year: with an extensive digital programme for publishing professionals, exciting online events at BOOKFEST digital for an international readership, as well as live events in Frankfurt on the ARD Book Fair Stage in the Festhalle and some 80 events as part of BOOKFEST city. The book fair’s traditional on-site exhibition is being cancelled this year due to the corona pandemic, since current travel restrictions would prevent numerous country stands from being realised as planned. In addition, the quarantine requirements that will be enforced on 1 October 2020 make it nearly impossible for European exhibitors and trade visitors to participate.

“Frankfurter Buchmesse is not only the world’s largest book fair, it is also a constantly evolving enterprise. Lively, agile and adaptable. Given the current situation, this means a fair without an on-site exhibition in 2020 because of the more stringent corona restrictions being imposed once again. However, events in Frankfurt am Main and other cities will allow people to experience the thrill books can provide – live in Frankfurt, as well as through livestreams and recordings accessible at the viewer’s convenience,” says Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels). “We would like to thank the German federal and state governments, especially Federal Culture Commissioner Monika Grütters, Hessian Minister President Volker Bouffier and Hessian Minister of Economics Tarek Al-Wazir, for their continued support.”

“Frankfurter Buchmesse thrives on international exchange. We would like to thank all exhibitors for their confidence and willingness to help realise a physical version of Frankfurter Buchmesse 2020,” says Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse. “Now the focus will be on our digital offerings. We have expanded our numerous existing services in recent months into a detailed offer of digital services and online events. That means international publishing professionals will be able to use known and new digital venues to drive their business forward, even in times of corona. And the reading public will have the opportunity to express its enthusiasm for books in two ways: online and at events in Frankfurt.”

Frankfurt Rights
Frankfurt Rights is Frankfurter Buchmesse’s new platform for the international rights and licence trade - for acquiring (audio-)book licences, selling translation rights, and discovering suitable material for film productions. It brings together all the players in the rights and licence trade. New business contacts can be made, publisher's profiles and catalogues can be browsed and personal favourite lists of titles can be created. Furthermore, sample chapters or other preview materials can be shared and messages from colleagues and business partners can be send and received. Frankfurt Rights will be available online at www.buchmesse.de from 1 October 2020.  

Digital conference programme: Frankfurt Conference
Frankfurter Buchmesse’s first purely digital conference series – Frankfurt Conference – will offer a digital programme of events for publishing professionals from Monday to Thursday (12–15 October 2020). The discussions, Q&A sessions and brief talks with international experts will be geared towards members of the international publishing industry, providing them with a virtual platform for gaining additional professional experience, exchanging ideas and making new contacts. Events will be held over four days, covering the areas Academic & Scholarly Publishing, Rights & Licensing, Publishing Insights, and Audio.

Further online events for publishing professionals will be offered before and during the book fair week – the entire programme will be available from mid-September on at www.buchmesse.de/conference(opens in a new window). To take part in the free online events, registration at My Book Fair (opens in a new window)is required. This will be possible from mid-September on at www.buchmesse.de(opens in a new window).

Guest of Honour Canada
Canada is preparing a series of virtual events that showcase the diversity, creativity and uniqueness of its literary and cultural scene. The Canadian organisers will present their programme in September. The country’s main physical appearance will take place in 2021.

Signals of Hope – a digital project for renewed optimism
The year 2020 with its many crises – the corona pandemic, climate change and the fight for equality – has put an abrupt end to many received ideas. In these times of uncertainty and conspiracy theories, Frankfurter Buchmesse would like to set an example: through its virtual project Signals of Hope, it wants to show how much potential is offered by hope itself and by new ideas for getting involved. Signals of Hope will be launched in mid-September with a social media campaign, and its programme of events can be experienced each day of the fair at https://signalsofhope.buchmesse.de(opens in a new window).

Prominent opinion leaders at the digital Weltempfang
Leïla Slimani, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Francesca Melandri, Kirsten Boie and many other insightful personalities will enliven the discussion at Weltempfang 2020. The first digital version of Weltempfang – Frankfurter Buchmesse’s sociopolitical stage – is dedicated to “Europe – Connecting Cultures”. On each day of the fair (14–18 October 2020), digital Weltempfang events will take place and will be broadcast at www.buchmesse.de(opens in a new window). Weltempfang is a joint project of Frankfurter Buchmesse and the German Federal Foreign Office.

BOOKFEST digital and BOOKFEST city
This year, BOOKFEST will take place physically in the city of Frankfurt as BOOKFEST city and, for the first time, virtually as BOOKFEST digital. On Saturday, 17 October 2020, BOOKFEST digital will stream a multifaceted programme from 10 am to 10 pm (CEST), presenting Elizabeth Gilbert, Don Winslow, Ayad Akhtar, Eliot Weinberger, Clemens Meyer, Olga Grjasnowa, Joachim Meyerhoff among others. BOOKFEST digital will be broadcast on two channels accessible at www.buchmesse.de. The complete programme is available from mid-September at www.bookfest.de(opens in a new window).

The approximately 80 events planned for BOOKFEST city will be held on all five days of the fair at many locations throughout Frankfurt. An exciting programme full of literature, inspiration and engaging interactions is guaranteed, thanks to guests such as Margit Auer, Max von Thun, Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, Bov Bjerg, Kristof Magnusson, Helmut Zierl, Max Giermann, Anastasia Zampounidis, Christian Stöcker, Andreas Steinhöfel, Eric Mayer, Linda Zervakis and Ahmad Mansour.

All locations being used for BOOKFEST city meet the safety requirements mandated by the state of Hesse. The number of participants will be limited, ensuring compliance with social-distancing guidelines. The pre-registrations and the final BOOKFEST programme are available from mid-September at www.bookfest.de(opens in a new window).

Programme highlights on site at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2020
The German Book Prize and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade will be awarded as part of Frankfurter Buchmesse as planned: the German Book Prize on 12 October 2020 at 6 pm, broadcast live from Frankfurt’s City Hall, and the Peace Prize on 18 October 2020, broadcast live from Frankfurt’s St. Paul’s Church by the German television network ARD beginning at 10.45 am.

The main stage at Frankfurter Buchmesse will be located in the Festhalle of Messe Frankfurt: this is where the ARD Book Fair Stage will have its premiere. Events will take place from 14 to 18 October, from 10 am to 6 pm. A highlight is the evening event with Irvine Welsh and John Niven. In the talk “Chilly Gonzales and Malakoff Kowalski: Talking about Taste“, the Canadian musician and entertainer and his fellow pianist ask: Does music have to be smart or can it go straight to the heart? and other questions of “taste”. Enya, his first book, is out 14 October and career retrospective documentary 'Shut up and play the piano' will have its TV premiere on ARTE during the book fair week.

Interested visitors can purchase tickets for the events being held on the ARD Book Fair Stage. From 14 to 18 October, book fans can visit www.buchmesse.de(opens in a new window) or sites operated by numerous media partners to access an extensive, multifaceted digital programme of readings, talks with authors and discussions. They will be able to explore publishers’ new releases as well.