Spanish royal couple and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to open 74th Frankfurter Buchmesse

Guest of Honour Spain will showcase its multilingualism and cultural diversity / Cultural convergence: stage programme reflects current discourse / Cultural exchange: programme focus on Ukraine / Spotlight on Africa / Invitation Programme with participants from Azerbaijan, Haiti, Lebanon, Ruanda and Togo, among others / Translate. Transfer. Transform. honours translators 

High-ranking visitors in Frankfurt: The 74th Frankfurter Buchmesse (19-23 October 2022) will open in the presence of the Spanish royal couple, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The announcement was made today by Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse, at a press conference. Other speakers at the fair’s Opening Ceremony will include Prime Minister of Hessen, Boris Rhein, the chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, and the literary keynote speakers from Spain, Irene Vallejo and Antonio Muñoz Molina. The Opening Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, 18 October 2022, in front of an audience of invited guests and will be streamed live. 

“A booming book market, a vibrant multilingualism and multifaceted literatures: 31 years after its first appearance as Guest of Honour, Spain is once again inviting book fair visitors to become acquainted with the cultural richness of Europe’s third largest country,” said Juergen Boos. “And there will be much to discover: The delegation from Spain will include some 200 authors, translators and creatives – proven experts on the country’s contemporary literatures. Under the motto ‘Creatividad Desbordante – Spilling Creativity’, the Guest of Honour Pavilion will offer a space for interaction and exchange: It is designed to be a living dictionary that connects words, languages and stories. I am much looking forward to experiencing it and am very pleased that the Spanish royal couple and Germany’s president will be taking this opportunity to visit Frankfurter Buchmesse.” Some of Spain’s most compelling literary voices will be present at the book fair, including Rosa Montero, Arturo Pérez Reverte, Elvira Lindo, Manuel Vilas, Javier Cercas, Elvira Sastre, Daniel Gascón, José Carlos Llop and writer Cristina Morales, who also attended the press conference in Frankfurt. 

Many people have said this year that a new era has begun – in view of Russia’s devastating and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, which has displaced millions and claimed countless lives. Under the motto “What can they do to us as long as we hear each other”, Ukrainian voices and topics will define the programme at the Frankfurt Pavilion in the Agora on the Friday and Saturday of the fair (21-22 October 2022).  

Serhiy Zhadan, Katja Petrowskaja, Kateryna Mishchenko, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Peter Pomerantsev, Aliona Karavai, Andrey Kurkov and Karl Schlögel are just some of the writers, voices and experts from Ukraine and around the world who will discuss topics such as culture, culture policy and the media in times of war. The programme will also include readings and musical performances. Ukrainian-German author Katja Petrowskaja will speak about how Ukraine is perceived in Europe. Publisher Kateryna Mishchenko will share her perspectives and experiences as a woman caught up in war and as a refugee. Ukrainian gallery owner Aliona Karavai will discuss cultural policy in wartime. Andrey Kurkov and Ljubov Yakymchuk will talk about the attack on plural identities in Ukraine. And Ukrainian writer, poet and translator Serhiy Zhadan, winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, will read a selection of poetry. The programme is being curated by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Goethe-Institut Ukraine and Frankfurter Buchmesse in cooperation with the Ukrainian Book Institute. All visitors to the fair are invited to join the discussion.  

Is resistance to the Putin regime possible? Many members of Russia’s opposition have been forced to flee the country and are now organising their protests against the regime from their places of exile – Leonid Volkov, for example, the opposition politician and close confident of dissident Alexei Navalny, who has been imprisoned since January 2021. In his new book Putinland, Volkov analyses the brutal imperialist dynamics of Russia under Putin, showing what people in Germany and Europe have chosen not to see.  

Throughout Europe, antidemocratic and right-wing extremist tendencies are gaining strength. Nancy Faeser, Germany’s minister of the interior, and Thomas Haldenwang, president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, took note of this disturbing development a few months ago when they presented the national intelligence report in Berlin: right-wing extremism remains the largest threat to democracy in Germany. This has become particularly clear following the discovery of right-wing extremist groups among the police and in the military, and after racist terrorist attacks such as those in the German cities of Hanau and Halle. How is it possible to fight an antidemocratic movement with an extensive network that is impacting German society? Which instruments in the political and legal spheres and in civil society can be used to defend the country? How can people be protected from attack? A roundtable discussion with experts and individuals affected by right-wing extremism will discuss the responsibility that journalists, government officials, society, the book fair and the publishing industry have and which changes must be initiated now. 

They are raising their voices on behalf of minority rights and representation and in favour of social diversity: myriad authors are taking a clear position in their books, calling for change. In Frankfurt, Alok Vaid-Menon, Elena Medel, Luisa Neubauer, Tupoka Ogette, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, Mithu Sanyal, Josephine Apraku, Maja Göpel and Ann Mbuti will share their ideas for transforming the world.   

In 2022, the world’s crises seem more threatening than ever. How do today’s young people view the future – and which ideas do creatives, thought leaders and people engaged in the cultural sector have that can shape it? Broadcaster ARTE is therefore asking “And now?” and thereby launching a discussion of the state of Europe and its shared values. Over 70,000 people from Germany, France, Belgium and Austria have already participated in the “And now?” survey, which will run until the book fair: Und jetzt? (undjetzt-festival.de)(opens in a new window). 

From Europe to Africa: the collective stand of the Africa Publishing Innovation Fund will be participating in Frankfurter Buchmesse for the first time. Founded in 2019, the fund has made $800,000 available to support both innovators in Africa’s publishing industry and library projects. Publishers from a number of African countries will be present at the collective stand in Hall 4.1 H 102. 

As part of the Invitation Programme that Frankfurter Buchmesse has been organising for over 50 years with funding from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, 20 small and midsized independent publishers from Africa, the Arab World, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe will exhibit at this year’s book fair in Frankfurt. The publishers from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Cuba, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Nigeria, Singapore and Togo will have a wide range of literary voices in tow. More information is available at: Invitation Programme for publishers (buchmesse.de)

Frankfurter Buchmesse is using the campaign Translate. Transfer. Transform. to put a spotlight on translating – an activity that takes place behind the scenes, but without which people could never understand each other. The focus is not only on literary translations, but also on translating as a communicative act. Even the adaptation of literary material is a form of media transfer. The topic of translation runs like a thread through all areas of the book fair: translation rights are a key topic at the Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg), every year an extensive funding programme is used to support the translation of works from the Guest of Honour country. Together with VdÜ, Germany’s translators’ association, a multifaceted programme is being organised for the International Translation Centre (Hall 4.0): this is where calls will be heard to increase the visibility of editors and translators and discussions will take place on how Arabic literature is received in Europe. Other topics include sensitivity reading and post-colonial translation along with issues such as translations for the visually impaired and the challenges of translating slang into another language – for instance, for comics.  

All events will be accessible shortly at Calendar of Events (buchmesse.de). Please note that the calendar is updated on a regular basis. The Frankfurter Buchmesse app for IOS and Android can be downloaded from mid-September.  

You can download the entire press kit, including press dates, awards list and an overview of authors and VIPs at the 2022 Book Fair, here: Press material for Frankfurter Buchmesse