The Frankfurt Book Fair opens

The Frankfurt Book Fair will be ceremoniously opened on Tuesday afternoon with Italy as this year’s guest of honor. The keynote speakers include the physicist Carlo Rovelli, the writer Susanna Tamaro and the philosopher Stefano Zecchi. Under the motto “Rooted in the Future”, the country presents itself with over 90 authors and 220 new publications on the German-speaking market. The fact that Roberto Saviano, who is considered a mafia expert and sharp critic of the Meloni government, was not on the official guest list caused a controversy in advance. Nevertheless, at the invitation of his German publisher Hanser, ZDF and the book fair, he will present his new book “Falcone” in conversation with Deniz Yücel.

From Wednesday to Sunday, around 4,000 publishers will present their new releases at the world’s largest book show. Around 1,000 authors are expected. In the first two days, the trade fair is only open to trade visitors. From Friday it will also be open to the private public. You can look forward to appearances by Thomas Gottschalk, Max Mutzke, Peter Maffay, Elke Heidenreich, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer and Bülent Ceylan: They are all bringing their new books with them.

This time an entire hall is dedicated to the “New Adult” trend. In doing so, the fair aims to accommodate queer publishers and the increasing interest of a young audience, for example in the romance genre. The fair not only presents print, but also digital media of all kinds. At the same time, the book show sees itself as a platform for socio-political debates.

At the end, like every year, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade will be awarded on Sunday in the Paulskirche. This year it goes to the Polish-American historian Anne Applebaum. She is an expert in Eastern European history and has always warned against Vladimir Putin’s imperial thinking. Her book “The Axis of the Autocrats” has just been published by Siedler Verlag. Last year Salman Rushdie was honored with the Peace Prize.

26-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey, who is said to have stabbed and seriously injured Rushdie in the US state of New York in 2022, will have to stand trial from Tuesday on charges of attempted murder and serious bodily harm. Rushdie wrote his book “Knife” about it.