Aficionado Award

Exceptional publishing initiatives and collaborations

The first international award to promote individuals, organisations and initiatives that are making a lasting difference in the publishing industry.

The AFICIONADO AWARD is a unique cooperation between its founding members, the Aficionado Community of international publishing professionals, Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino.

It was launched to recognise outstanding projects and to network, support and promote the personalities behind them. In 2023, the Aké Arts and Book Festival, which was founded by Lola Shoneyin in 2013, was honoured. The book magazine The Passenger and the international literary cooperation Meridian Czernowitz were shortlisted for the award in 2023.

This year's three nominees presented themselves at the Salone del Libro di Torino: Alba Donati (ITA) for her bookshop La libreria sopra la Penna(opens in a new window) in a tiny Tuscan village and its associated literature festival; Frederike Doppenberg (NLD) for her magazine Fifth Wave(opens in a new window), which provides a forum for independent Russian authors; and Rita Mattar (BRA) for her poetry subscription platform Circulo de Poemas(opens in a new window), an imprint of Fósforo Editora, São Paulo. The latter won the Aficionado Award 2024. Co-founder Rita Mattar will accept the award on behalf of the founding team at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024.

Meet the winner at #fbm24

The panel and award ceremony will take place on Thursday, 17 October 2024, at 11.00 a.m. CEST on the Frankfurt International Stage (Foyer Hall 5.1/6.1). Speakers will be Rita Mattar (Círculo de Poemas), Aleksi Siltala (Siltala Publishing) and Camilla Cottafavi (Feltrinelli). The event will be moderated by Erin Cox(opens in a new window), Frankfurter Buchmesse.

Discover our 2024 Nominees

2023 Winner & Shortlist

The very first winner of the Aficionado Award was the Aké Arts and Book Festival in 2023. The unique festival was founded by Lola Shoneyin in 2013. Over the last decade, Aké has excelled at establishing a sense of community between participating authors while creating important connections with the local audience in Abeokuta, Lagos State. One of the festival’s explicit aims is to promote literacy, especially among a younger audience. To date, Aké has brought together writers, artists, poets and filmmakers from 29 African countries.