The Leipzig Book Fair will not take place this year either.

The organizers announced this Wednesday.

Too many large publishers had decided against participating in the fair in the uncertain pandemic situation.

A Leipzig book fair in all its diversity would no longer have been possible with this.

It is the third cancellation of the second largest German book fair since the beginning of the pandemic.

It should have been held from March 17th to 20th.

According to industry reports, large publishing groups such as Oetinger and Penguin Random House had canceled their participation in the past few days.

However, there were also express commitments to the trade fair, such as from the Kurt Wolff Foundation, which represents the interests of independent publishers.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Leipzig Fair had decided to plan the book fair on its traditional March date.

Director Oliver Zille justified this by saying that 75 percent of the exhibitors from before the crisis had confirmed participation in 2022.

There had been positive signals for the trade fair from the Saxon state government.

At the beginning of the corona pandemic in 2020, the Leipzig Book Fair was one of the first major trade fairs in Germany to be cancelled.

Last year they wanted to move the organizers to the warmer May, but this date could not be kept either.