Astrid Böhmisch becomes director of the Leipzig Book Fair. She will succeed long-time trade fair director Oliver Zille in this position on January 1, 2024. The German and English major works as a business consultant for media companies in Berlin and was responsible for the German-speaking markets of Bookwire GmbH until a year ago, according to a statement from the trade fair. Before that, she was responsible for marketing at Piper Publishing for four years. From 2006 to 2015 she was responsible for marketing at Senator Entertainment in various positions, most recently as Executive Vice President Marketing and Publicity.
The Leipzig Book Fair is the second largest book fair in Germany after Frankfurt; this year it had 274,000 visitors. Recently there was unrest after the trade fair was canceled in the third year of the pandemic, while the trade fairs in Frankfurt, London and Bologna took place again in an adapted form.
In addition to the book fair, the “Leipzig reads” literature festival traditionally also takes place in Leipzig, which has been competing with the parallel Lit.Cologne festival for several years. The Leipzig Book Fair also hosts the “Manga Comic Con”. The guest country of the fair in 2024 will be the Netherlands and Flanders.
The trade fair’s managing director, Martin Buhl-Wagner, thanked former director Oliver Zille “heartily” for his great commitment over his 33 years in office. Böhmisch sees her new task as a “great honor and exciting challenge.”