Frankfurt鈥檚 book fair back again
Print Edition
The Frankfurt book fair, the world鈥檚 largest, celebrated its return on Tuesday, but with fewer big names attending and star author Margaret Atwood only joining via video link, was not quite back to its former glory.
After going almost fully digital in 2020 to curb the coronavirus spread, this year鈥檚 fair will see publishers, booksellers, authors and readers meeting face-to-face again.
But it will be a more muted version of past editions, as uncertainty about travel restrictions has kept many international visitors away.
鈥淏ack to business does not mean back to normal,鈥 fair director Juergen Boos said at the opening, but the event nevertheless offered a chance for the industry to 鈥渞econnect,鈥 he added.
Award-winning novelist Margaret Atwood, whose native Canada is this year鈥檚 guest of honour, dialled into the opening ceremony via Skype to deliver a message of hope.
鈥淐ovid and the climate crisis have shown us how fragile we are as human beings,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut we have also been demonstrating how resilient, inventive, and how creative we can be.鈥
Books had helped people to escape the isolation of the pandemic and make sense of the world, said Atwood, author of 鈥淭he Handmaid鈥檚 Tale.鈥
鈥淏ooks are both time travel devices and empathy machines. They take us to distant lands, allow us inside other worlds.鈥
The fair, which opened to trade visitors yesterday before welcoming the general public later in the week, runs until Sunday.
It comes as the book industry has been 鈥渄oing pretty well over the past 18 months,鈥 according to Boos, with people in many countries using the slower pace of life during lockdown to read more 鈥 adolescents especially.
In the United States, printed book sales rose by more than 8 percent in 2020 to record their best year in a decade, according to the NPD research group.
Growth was driven by teen categories but also adult non-fiction, as people turned to cookbooks and DIY books to pass the time at home.
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