Frankfurt Book Fair: Around 215,000 visitors came to Frankfurt

The private audience (110,000) made up a little more than half. As the organizers announced at the end on Sunday, more than 4,000 exhibitors from 95 countries showed their new releases.

Although the number of visitors was higher than last year, it was still behind 2019, when more than 300,000 book fans came. “We are still below pre-Corona levels, but we are getting closer to the old numbers again,” said a spokesman.

The current edition was the 75th book fair since the Second World War. The host country was Slovenia. In times of the Gaza War, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and climate change, many political debates determined the agenda. “Our formula for success is interest follows relevance. People come here from all over the world because they know that a presence in Frankfurt is essential for their own business,” explained the director of the book fair, Juergen Boos, at the end. “In addition, there is the growing political importance of the Frankfurt Book Fair in times of war and crisis, in which the defense of freedom of speech becomes even more important.”

The crowning conclusion on Sunday was the awarding of the Peace Prize to Salman Rushdie in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche. In his acceptance speech, the author called for the unconditional defense of freedom of expression. It is a time “when freedom – especially freedom of expression, without which the world of books would not exist – is under attack on all sides by reactionary, authoritarian, populist, demagogic, half-educated, narcissistic and careless voices,” he said. The laudatory speech was given by author Daniel Kehlmann (“Measuring the World”), who is a friend of Rushdie.

Also on Sunday, the youth word of the year was announced live at the trade fair for the first time. In a vote by the Langenscheidt publishing house, “Goofy” came out on top with around 39 percent of the votes among the top three terms. The term describes a clumsy, silly person or behavior. The first Tiktok Book Awards were also presented on Saturday. One topic that took center stage at this year’s fair was the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the book industry.

The next Frankfurt Book Fair will take place between October 16th and 20th, 2024. Italy will be the guest of honor.

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