At the Frankfurt Book Fair, the industry primarily addresses its problems. Since it seemed certain that the publishers would not be eaten up by e-books and digital text formats of all kinds, this year the topics of paper shortage, paper price, dwindling buyers and delivery problems were discussed with serious faces in the aisles, which were widened due to the pandemic. The trade fair, which was held without audience limits for the first time in two years, closed yesterday with around 4000 exhibitors (around 3500 fewer than before Corona).
All publishers are currently hoarding paper, says Suhrkamp publishing boss Jonathan Landgrebe, because it is not foreseeable how and whether the paper factories will produce over the winter given the current gas situation. In addition, the price of paper has risen by up to 40 percent. In this respect, the industry is considering jumping over price thresholds that have been respected for years. Landgrebe: “Books should be more expensive.” That will also happen. Accordingly, a hardcover novel should no longer be available for 20 to 25 euros in the future, but will cost 25 to 30 euros.
Nevertheless, the European book market is more than stable at a good level: based on the figures presented by the European Publishers Association in Frankfurt, total sales in 2021 increased by 6.5 percent compared to 2020, which is even higher than the year 2019, which was spared by the pandemic. This was achieved with around 30,000 fewer titles than in 2019. In the sales channels, the growth in online sales continued to slow down compared to 2020: compared to 2019, it was an increase of 6.1 percent. The effects from the paper market will only be reflected in the 2022 financial statements.
engage in conversation
The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (EUR 25,000), which is traditionally awarded on the last day of the Book Fair, went yesterday to the Ukrainian writer, musician and artist Serhij Zhadan.
In her laudatory speech, the playwright/author Sasha Marianna Salzmann acknowledged that the 48-year-old Ukrainian society takes a breath in his poetry: “His poetry is never hermetic, never closed in on itself. One eye looks out at the world and one hand shines stretched out and ready to draw the reader into the conversation.”
Zhadan has been deployed in his hometown of Kharkiv since the beginning of the war, helping with evacuations, distributing food, coordinating deliveries to the military and giving concerts. He reports on surviving in the war in the book “Himmel über Kharkiv” that has just been published. An unmistakable narrative tone characterizes Zhadan’s texts, which mixes lyrical descriptions with fast-paced language.
The influence of music is evident in all of his work, after all he is a singer in a band himself. “It is sad and significant that we are talking about the Peace Prize while Europe is at war again,” said the 48-year-old. The war changes the sense of time and space. Zhadan: “Anyone who finds himself in the area of war makes no plans for the future.” He also described the experience of how the pressure of war changed and damaged language in its usual form: “It is unbearable to lose language as a familiar medium.”
Source: Nachrichten
