Impressions from the Frankfurt Book Fair

The Frankfurt book fair (FBF) was held from October 14 to 18, 2015 and once again proved to be the biggest event in publishing worldwide. No FBF without politics. The invitation of Salman Rushdie to give an opening lecture in which he defended the freedom of the word led to the withdrawal of Iranian publishers under protest. Navid Kermani was chosen for the Peace Award. In his moving and knowledgeable speech he characterized the communication problems the Western world continues to have with Islam, at the same time investigating and openly impeaching the roots of the various ongoing wars in the Middle East.

At the fair itself a rearrangement of floor space brought everybody closer together this year, for instance with the English language companies having been relocated from the remote Hall 8 to the much more central Hall 6. This surely saved the interested lot of walking. A leading Swiss publisher had already announced in April that he would not participate for economic reasons. Another well-known player from the same country had opted out of the familiar and popular Hall 3 and had erected a safari tent on the central Agora. Unfortunately, this gave the impression of an intentionally dark Hollister shop, but whereas you can still see the clothes for sale (and not much else) in the latter, there were hardly any books discernible in the tent. The unusual concept left a lot of visitors bewildered. The space thus created in the main hall was eagerly taken over by other publishers, leading to a perception of ever-growing booths and stalls, at least in the world of fiction.

The fundamentally different attitudes between the primarily German and the foreign-language publishers was striking again: here you had the giant presentation of loads of books staring you in the face and trying to sell their product to the masses, also and mainly addressing the general public on Saturday and Sunday. On the other side there were quiet but spacious stalls filled centrally with tables and chairs, the books almost tucked away on shelves as a frame, reflecting the dominant working and negotiating mandate. The STM publishers in general maintained a balance between these two extremes.

Regarding books there were, of course, the usual suspects. Reliably, and just in time for Christmas, the annual Jamie Oliver cookbook was presented.[1] [2] The average celebrities jumped on the same bandwagon by personally advertising their mostly autobiographic writing efforts as gifts for the yet undecided. As this year's Nobel laureate was announced in time before the fair, there was, for a change, no embarrassment of not having any of her books on appropriate display.

One well-featured book deserving special attention, at least in the opinion of your Editor, was Neil MacGregor's “Germany—Memories of a Nation,” now available in German: “Deutschland—Erinnerungen einer Nation.”[3] [4] As the director of the British Museum the author curated a phenomenal exhibition accompanied by a BBC Radio 4 series last year, the blown-up catalogue of which is this book. Carefully selected exhibits present the reader/visitor with a view of Germany through rather British eyes. Great care is taken to point out the nation's idiosyncrasies, painstakingly explaining both what makes them so unmistakably German as well as the role the course of history played in these developments. MacGregor's book and exhibition cover 600 years of German history, basically starting with a Gutenberg Bible from 1455. The invention of the printing press is regarded by him as a turning point in history, when, for the first time, German craftsmanship changed the world forever. The author then leads us through the following centuries, finishing off with a remarkable and optimistic interpretation of two seminal pictures: Paul Klee's Angelus Novus and Gerhard Richter's Betty.

For someone currently living in Mainz it was flattering to read once again about the importance of what happened back there in the 15th century. For an Editor of a journal still issued also in print, it was reassuring to see that there definitely is no real substitute for physical presence. With the long winter nights approaching fast let me recommend that you very physically curl up on the sofa with a plate of easily prepared “Baked Eggs in Popped Beans”[1] and 640 pages of a very good book.[3] [4] Enjoy both.

• References

• 1 Oliver J. Everyday Super Food. London, UK: Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House; 2015
• 2 Oliver J. Superfood für jeden Tag. Munich, Germany: Dorling Kindersley; 2015
• 3 MacGregor N. Germany—Memories of a Nation. London, UK: Allen Lane, Penguin Random House; 2014
• 4 MacGregor N. Deutschland—Erinnerungen einer Nation. Munich, Germany: C H Beck; 2015