This year’s Frankfurt Book Fair was held Oct. 15-19 in Frankfurt, Germany, and drew 299,112 attendees. That number represented a 5.6-percent increase over last year, and also set a record since the fair moved to five days from six in 2004. The event, which celebrated its 60th anniversary, also featured a total of 7,373 exhibitors from 100 countries.
“Digitization draws people to Frankfurt,” says Juergen Boos, book fair director, in response to the record-breaking attendance. “One of the main reasons for the increase in trade visitors is the need for guidance with regards to the new business models and fields of business which digitization creates.” Of 400 professional events held at the Frankfurt Book Fair, half of them were on the subject of digitization.
The annual Guest of Honor at the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair was Turkey, with 100 publishers and 250 authors from that country present at the fair. “Turkey took full advantage of this opportunity to present their country on the world’s largest stage for literature. Both the general public as well as the international publishing world reacted very positively to the Turkish authors,” says Boos.
The 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair will take place Oct. 14–18. The Guest of Honor will be China.
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