The Frankfurt Book Fair begins between hope and fear.

"Let's not kid ourselves - back to business doesn't mean back to normal," said Book Fair Director Juergen Boos on Tuesday at the opening of the book show, which is expecting up to 125,000 guests from October 20 to 24.

The fair is different than in previous years, explained Boos: "Access is more complex." Those who enter it must have been vaccinated, recovered or tested in one of the test centers at the entrances towards the city and the S-Bahn.

"We have to wear masks on our forays." All of this complicates the visit, but: "We want and have to avoid crowds."

Florian Balke

Culture editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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2000 exhibitors from 80 countries will meet until Sunday to exchange ideas and meet readers.

500 of them only signed up in the past three weeks.

In 2019, more than 7,500 exhibitors came to the last trade fair before the start of the pandemic.

Two thirds of the foreign publishers present themselves at 41 national stands, one third have their own stands.

Guest of Honor Canada

For the second time in a row Canada is the guest of honor at the book show. The host countries of the next few years, Spain, Slovenia and Italy, have rescheduled their own appearances for this. Governor General Mary May Simon, the representative of Elizabeth II in the constitutional structure of the North American monarchy, thanked the states for the gesture of friendship. Canada described the politician, who was born in 1947 as the daughter of an Inuit mother and a white father on Ungava Bay, as the land of many stories: "In northern Canada, it is they who connect us with one another and with the country."

The host country is traveling with a delegation of eight authors and a few dozen professional visitors. “The fact that, despite the adversity, exhibitors came from all these countries shows how important the Frankfurt Book Fair is for the international industry,” said Boos. He thanked the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, Monika Grütters (CDU), for the “Neustart Kultur” funding program that she had launched: “We wouldn't be here without the support from the program.” Grütters said Boos had revived the book fair as a stage for the world's literature: "I hope that this book fair will be linked to many professional and personal success stories."

Karin Schmidt-Friderichs told one of these. The book industry has withstood one of the biggest stress tests in its history, said the head of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, which has organized the book fair in Frankfurt since 1949. One thing, however, was consistently missing: "The encounters that make up this industry." That is exactly what the trade fair will offer, said the Mainz publisher: "We are tired of seeing each other again."

The book industry can be proud of how it has done in a year and a half of the pandemic.

The three interest groups united in the industry association, “publishers, book retailers and logistics in between”, would have ensured “in cooperation” that books and buyers would come together.

After the year 2020 was closed stably with the first lockdown, the “race to catch up” is currently continuing after the second lockdown.

After the first three quarters of 2021, sales in the industry are 0.7 percent higher than in the same period in the pre-Corona year 2019. That is encouraging.

The book trade is worried: "It is still 13.3 percent behind, but is fighting its way forward week after week." A number of bookstores would still be in the red at the end of the year.

"Just say no"

Boos regretted the book fair boycott by activist Jasmina Kuhnke, whose Twitter account @ebonyplusirony has more than 100,000 followers. Kuhnke announced on Monday that she would not be able to present her debut novel “Black Heart”, which will be published by Rowohlt on Tuesday, at the fair on Friday. She is threatened by right-wing extremists and does not feel safe because of the presence of the Jungeuropa publishing house. Boos said: "Freedom of expression is the book fair's greatest asset." You must therefore also tolerate opinions that you do not agree with. "You will find everything that is covered by German law at the fair."

The book fair has learned nothing from the events of the past few years, said Meron Mendel, director of the Frankfurt Education Center Anne Frank, with: “It is a disaster for our open culture of debate when those affected by racism, anti-Semitism and misanthropy feel at the Frankfurt Book Fair as the largest debate fair in the country because they do not feel safe there. "The Left in the Römer announced that publishers who contribute to a climate of hatred, agitation and racism with ethnic and racist publications, the book fair should not offer a stage:" Simply say no. "