Only public appearance at #fbm23: Salman Rushdie is guest at the Literature Gala on the Saturday of the fair
The other guests are Christopher Clark, Lizzie Doron, Cornelia Funke, Amir Gudarzi and Thomas Hettche | Hosted by Thea Dorn and Denis Scheck
For the Saturday of the fair, 21 October at 7 p.m., Frankfurter Buchmesse, ARD, ZDF and 3sat invite you to one of the highlights of the book fair days: the "Frankfurter Buchmesse special: Literature Gala". The event offers culture and literature fans the exclusive opportunity to experience hearing the award-winning British-Indian author Salman Rushdie live.
Salman Rushdie will be awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade this year. At the literature gala, the laureate will talk about his new book Victory City – an epic novel about power, love and what it means to be human. Since the personal attack on him in the summer of 2022, the writer has made few public appearances. At the 2015 Frankfurter Buchmesse, Rushdie was the speaker at the Opening Press Conference.
"I was very moved that Salman Rushdie is not missing the opportunity to meet the audience in Frankfurt in person, in addition to attending the award ceremony for the Peace Prize. It is a great honour for me to welcome Salman Rushdie once again to the Frankfurter Buchmesse", says the fair's Director Juergen Boos in praise of Rushdie's appearance at the Literature Gala.
In a recent interview to mark the 75th ‘Frankfurter Buchmesse, Rushdie emphasised the importance of the book fair as a place of democratic exchange: "Frankfurter Buchmesse is one of the most important cultural forums in the Western world. […] Its influence lies precisely in the free exchange of ideas, through books, between many cultures. Such exchanges are vital to social transformation, and to democracy."
This is precisely why – in addition to the authors' current books – the Literature Gala will also focus on the major political and social upheavals of our time and the challenges of the future. The other guests at the evening event are children's and young adult author and creator of the globally successful Inkheart (German original title: Tintenherz) series, Cornelia Funke, the Australian historian Sir Christopher Clark, the Israeli writer and peace activist Lizzie Doron, the multiple award-winning novelist Thomas Hettche and the Iranian writer Amir Gudarzi, who lives in exile. The evening will be hosted by Thea Dorn, publicist and host of the ZDF programme "Das Literarische Quartett", and Denis Scheck, literary critic and presenter of the ARD literary magazine "Druckfrisch".
Tickets for the public are available at: www.hr-ticketcenter.de/tickets-hr/e2154572. If you would like to attend as a member of the press, please register by 20 October at press@buchmesse.de.
Salman Rushdie, Christopher Clark and Lizzie Doron will be speaking in English. Further parts of the event will be in German.
Accredited press representatives can register for the press conference on the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade with Salman Rushdie on the morning of 20 October (at 10.00 a.m., in the Illusion room in the Congress Centre, level 3) until 28 September at www.boersenverein.de/presse/akkreditierung-pressekonferenz-friedenspreis/. Participation is only possible after confirmation by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.