Premieres, personalities, perspectives: The 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse will host discussions on today’s most pressing issues, dedicate a new hall to the booming New Adult genre, and remain the world’s most important marketplace for rights and licensing

The 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse (16–20 October 2024) will put a spotlight on current topics in the world of international publishing and on today’s socio-political issues. At the same time, it is expanding the venues that allow readers and authors to interact – with an emphasis this year on the growing desire younger readers have to engage with literature. 

The book fair’s opening ceremony will take place on 15 October 2024 under the motto “FBM24 is Read!ng – Read. Reflect. Relate.” Representing the German government, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth will give the opening remarks. Hessian Minister President Boris Rhein has also confirmed his participation. Additional speakers at the opening ceremony will include Frankfurt’s Mayor Mike Josef and Chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association Karin Schmidt-Friderichs. This year, the Italian Guest of Honour Committee has selected physicist and author Carlo Rovelli, writer Susanna Tamaro and philosopher Stefano Zecchi as literary keynote speakers. Alessandro Giuli, Italian Minister of Culture, has announced his participation as the representative of the Italian government. Musical accompaniment for the opening ceremony will be provided by Frankfurt-based musicians Veronika Paleeva (violin), Tim Roth (double bass) and Tomek Witiak (guitar). Earlier in the day, at the international Opening Press Conference on the morning of 15 October, writer Elif Shafak will speak about the role of literature in the world today. 

With the New Adult area in Hall 1.2, FBM24 has designed a new space that reflects the growing interest young readers in particular have in meeting their preferred authors in person. The area’s 8,000 square metres will offer an additional home to the successful New Adult genre and its subgenres Romantasy and Dark College, along with many queer publishing houses. At the weekend, the numerous fans of these literary worlds can interact with authors such as Jane S. Wonda on the New Adult Stage. 

As an international platform for exploring the pressing socio-political issues of our time, Frankfurter Buchmesse 2024 has curated an extensive programme featuring international names from the worlds of academia, culture and politics. For the first time, the events are being brought together under a programme especially created for that purpose: Frankfurt Calling – Perspectives on Culture and Politics. This is where global perspectives on major issues, such as democracy, human rights, artificial intelligence, climate change and education, will be explored. The panels, readings and performances will look at other topics as well, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Middle East conflict and reactions to it, black feminism, and the global rise of populism. The main venue for the events will be the iconic Frankfurt Pavilion located on the Agora of the fairgrounds. The programme has been put together by Frankfurter Buchmesse and its partners, such as the UN, Amnesty International, Memorial, PEN Berlin, CORRECTIV, SZ and Bildungsstätte Anne Frank. Thought-provoking authors such as Roberto Saviano, Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, Eva Menasse and Omri Boehm will discuss the issues shaping public discourse. 

One of the highlights of the Frankfurt Calling series will be the encounter between Israeli historian and bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari and Japanese philosopher and capitalism sceptic Kohei Saito. On Wednesday (16 October at 7.30 pm in Saal Harmonie), they will discuss the question “Is a system reboot the only way to have a future worth living?” Harari became world-famous with his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. In his new work Nexus, he addresses the danger that today’s information networks poses to the future of humanity. In his bestseller Slow Down, Saito lays out a radical critique of growth and argues from a Marxist perspective for a democratic reform of work and production. 

During its 76th edition, the Frankfurt Book Fair will once again use its trade programme to create “media neighbourhoods”, which are crucial for the book industry’s growth. In cooperation with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Frankfurter Buchmesse will host a Games Business Centre for the first time. The centre will be the go-to space for all publishers, developers and vendors from the games industry. This is where they can network with publishers, film producers and trade visitors at the largest international book fair. 

“Books to film”, a topic of strategic importance for the licensing business, will once again receive a great deal of attention. The aim is to help film producers find material for literary adaptations while promoting interactions between publishers’ representatives and film producers. At the traditional Book-to-Screen Day (18 October), a Book-to-Screen Talk will take place in the Frankfurt Pavilion at 2.00 pm: writer Fatma Aydemir will speak with Aslı Özarslan about her adaptation of Aydemir’s novel Ellbogen (Elbow) and how good stories find their way from books to the big screen. 

This year, Frankfurter Buchmesse is once again demonstrating its indispensability as a venue for professional exchange in the global book industry, thanks to its fully booked Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg), the largest meeting place of its kind worldwide, as well as an expanded Audio area and an increase in international stages and trade events, including high-ranking CEO talks. 

With more than 90 authors traveling to Frankfurt, Italy, this year’s Guest of Honour, will be presenting the full range of its contemporary publishing portfolio. The writers who will be shaping the Guest of Honour programme with their talks and readings include well-known names such as Alessandro Baricco, Annalena Benini, Paolo Cognetti, Claudia Durastanti, Antonio Franchini, Nicola Lagioia, Claudio Magris, Francesca Melandri and Igiaba Scego. The programme’s events will take place in the Arena and in the Caffè Letterario, both of which are located in the Guest of Honour Pavilion, designed as a piazza by architect Stefano Boeri. Italy’s appearance as Guest of Honour will also include a trade programme, which will take place at the collective Italian stand in Hall 5.0. This is where Europe’s fourth-largest book market in terms of sales will be presenting itself to the international publishing industry. 

In addition to the programme assembled by the Italian Guest of Honour Committee for the Guest of Honour Pavilion, there will be additional events initiated by Italian authors and their German-language publishers. One highlight will be the discussion between Roberto Saviano and the co-chair of PEN Berlin, Deniz Yücel, on “Literature & Politics. Writing in Illiberal Times” (Saturday, 19 October, at 2.00 p.m. in the Frankfurt Pavilion). There will also be a moderated reading by Antonio Scurati on his new Mussolini novel M. Das Buch des Krieges (M. The Book of War), which will be published in German during the week of the fair (Wednesday, 16 October, at 8.00 pm, as part of the Open Books series at the Evangelische Akademie in the city centre). 

The new Centre of Words in Hall 4.1 will be the central meeting point when it comes to literature and translation. Jointly organised by the trade association Verband der Literaturübersetzer*innen (VdÜ), the German Literature Fund and Kunststiftung NRW, in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse, the centre will have its own stage and a networking area, allowing authors and literary translators to interact with publishers, critics and agents. Trade visitors and the general public can expect a broad programme featuring guests from German-speaking countries and beyond. 

One of the new additions in the international exhibitor area will be the Asia Stage in Hall 5.1. On all five days of the fair, the stage will host readings and events on literary and cultural-political topics with authors from various Asian countries and regions. On trade visitor days, the events will focus on trends and developments in the Asian book market. Numerous networking opportunities will also allow visitors to make contact with players from Asia’s publishing community. 

As in 2023, the book fair’s anniversary year, the 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse will be highly visible throughout the city, thanks to advertising on buses, floor graphics in the main railway station and illuminated posters at the airport, among other eye-catching publicity. From 14–20 October, visitors can also experience a spectacular event on Paulsplatz, the square next to St Paul’s Church: “The Great Escape Room”, a collaboration between Frankfurter Buchmesse, Stadtmarketing Frankfurt and Goethe-Haus. In keeping with Italy’s appearance as Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse and Frankfurt being the native city of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 238 years after the writer’s Italian journey, the Escape Room will give visitors the chance to join Goethe as he makes his way south once again.