76th Frankfurter Buchmesse takes stock: The largest international book fair remains on course for further growth

230,000 visitors, more than 4,300 exhibitors, over 3,300 events and a sold-out book fair weekend – Director Juergen Boos: “Our internationality creates relevance”

The 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse (16-20 October 2024), which ended today (Sunday), continued its growth trajectory of recent years. With 115,000 trade visitors (previous year: 105,000) from 153 countries (previous year: 130 countries) and 115,000 private visitors (previous year: 110,000), it increased its scope both as an international fair for the publishing and media industry and as a festival for literature fans – despite the limited number of tickets available for the two weekend days of the fair. 

More than 4,300 exhibitors (previous year: 4,100) were present in the halls. The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg), which was fully booked long before the fair, and the Publishers Rights Centre (PRC), which was also in high demand, once again reported record occupancy with a total of 593 tables. The two working centres for international rights trading were busier than ever, welcoming rights professionals from a total of 355 agencies and publishers, as well as 38,000 visitors. More than 7,500 media representatives (previous year: 7,000) covered the over 3,300 events that took place during the fair.

Collaboration and cooperation are becoming more important

“Internationality is our trademark. It creates the relevance that we have witnessed in the increased number of participants in all areas,” said Juergen Boos, Director of Frankfurter Buchmesse. “From the perspective of our exhibitors and trade visitors, the 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse was a fair with strong rights deals. Collaboration and cooperation are also playing an increasingly important role. The publishing industry is reaching out to its neighbours in the creative industries, and vice versa. Our activities in the area of cross-genre adaptations are becoming more and more important, something that has long been true of the film industry’s interest in Frankfurter Buchmesse, and it is increasingly true of the games industry.”

Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, Chairwoman of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, emphasized how important the predominantly young audience and its enthusiasm for reading is for the industry as a whole and for the future of books: “The book industry can look back on five successful days: Frankfurter Buchmesse has once again proven to be the main platform for exchange, networking and doing robust business. At the same time, it was a festival of ideas, debates and new perspectives on today’s issues. And anyone who could not previously imagine the growing enthusiasm that young people have for reading experienced it impressively at the fair: seeing umpteen thousands of book fans celebrating their favourite books and authors increases the desire for books and their future.”

Cultural-political programme with more than 80 events

“Frankfurt Calling” was the name of the fair’s cultural-political programme that featured literary perspectives from international speakers. At over 80 talks, readings, discussions and performances, the audience watched Roberto Saviano, Anne Applebaum, Yuval Noah Harari, Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim and Kohei Saito, among others, in the iconic Frankfurt Pavilion and other venues. The topics discussed were as urgent as they were diverse: for example, the global trend towards autocracy, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, Black feminism and freedom of expression. The Frankfurt Calling programme was organised in cooperations with organisations like the United Nations, Amnesty International, Memorial, PEN Berlin, CORRECTIV and many others.

Guest of Honour Italy

With more than 90 authors, Italy, this year’s Guest of Honour at Frankfurter Buchmesse, provided insights into the country’s current publishing portfolio. The corresponding events were held mostly at the Guest of Honour Pavilion, which was designed by architect Stefano Boeri as a piazza. Italy’s presentation as Guest of Honour also included an extensive trade programme, which took place at the Italian collective stand in Hall 5.0. In addition, there were events initiated by Italian authors and their German-language publishers on the fair’s various stages. Italy’s  Guest of Honour presentation, which took place under the motto “Roots in the future,” ended on the last day of the fair with the handover of the GuestScroll to the Philippines, Guest of Honour 2025, whose motto will be “The imagination peoples the air”. 

Centre of Words: Stage for literature and translation

The new Centre of Worlds in Hall 4.1 established itself as the central meeting point for discussions of contemporary literature and translation. Around 80 authors, translators and speakers – including Roberto Saviano, German Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth and Büchner Prize winner Oswald Egger – appeared at the more than 30 events held on the centre’s spacious stage and in its networking area. “The Centre of Words succeeded in giving literature and literary translation a suitable venue and thus the appropriate visibility,” said Lars Birken-Bertsch, who helped shape the centre’s programme as Managing Director of the German Literature Fund.

International rights and licensing business

The meeting point for the international rights and licensing community were the Literary Agents & Scouts Centre and the Publishers Rights Centre, which together occupied an entire floor in Hall 6. That is where rights and licensing professionals from agencies and publishing houses met a seemingly unending stream of international business partners. “It’s a great feeling to be part of a world where stories connect us and provide relief in times of international uncertainty,” said Hayo Deinum from the Holland-based agency Shared Stories. Deinum praised the large number of countries represented in Frankfurt that he was able to establish business contacts with.

Educational and acedmic publishing

The new Stage 4.0, the home of international academic and educational publishers and publishing partners, featured a non-stop series of events. Exhibitors put together a largely English-language trade programme. With two micro-conferences the focus was on international academic publishing and librarianship. On Saturday and Sunday, the Campus Weekend attracted a younger audience thanks to Young Professionals Day. Topics that are shaping the current education debate in Germany were given their due at the Education Forum in Hall 3.1. Panel discussions on artificial intelligence and the digital transformation of schools and other educational institutions proved particularly popular.

Book-to-Screen

The Book-to-Screen Day was very well received on Friday, with significantly more inquiries and accreditations from filmmakers than last year. For the first time, the fair offered tours in order to meet the growing demand from international producers for stories for literary adaptations and to offer them guidance in this area. Almost 100 producers, screenwriters, film rights professionals and representatives of film organisations from all over the world participated in the fully booked Book-to-Screen Masterclass. Netflix, Constantin Film (Germany), Globo (Brazil), Pragmatic Pictures (USA) and others took part in the book-to-screen matchmaking event organised by Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Berlin International Film Festival.

A similar development is emerging in the games industry. Eight games studios exhibited at this year’s fair. Juergen Boos: “The expectations we had for our new Games Business Centre, which we organised for the first time in cooperation with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, were fully met. Using the motto ‘A book is a film is a game!’, we are continuing to drive forward our business in the area of cross-genre adaptations.”

New Adult – a festival for literature fans

The area for the New Adult segment celebrated its premiere at Frankfurter Buchmesse, proving extremely popular with the reading community. In order to meet visitors’ demands and ensure their time in the exhibition hall was safe, the number of tickets available for the weekend were limited. Nevertheless, queues of thousands of people formed outdoors on the Agora, the open-air space at the heart of the fair, on Saturday and Sunday, as fans lined up for an autograph and selfie with their favourite authors in the Meet the Author area, which also celebrated its premiere. From Friday to Sunday, 87 authors at five tables completed a total of 86 signing sessions. 

The feedback from exhibitors in Hall 1.2 was consistently positive, as quotes from two trade visitors attest: “We’re very pleased and overwhelmed,” said Maria Maibohm, Managing Director of the Graff bookshop (Germany), which had a stand at Frankfurter Buchmesse for the first time. “We’ve had so many great conversations with visitors because we had more space. It absolutely exceeded my expectations,” said a delighted Astrid Ohletz, founder of Ylva Verlag (Germany). “Here we found the readers who were looking for us but didn’t know we exist.”