As a rule, you do not bring gifts with you when you visit the trade fair.

In Leipzig this time already.

On Saturday afternoon, curious people gather in front of the Klett children's book publishing house, including one with gifts of flowers, because this is where you are invited to "visit the book".

Nine publishers based in the city offer it, and the response to it has been excellent.

As soon as the doors open, Monika Osberghaus, the head of Klett Kinderbuch, not only has one more beautiful ornamental plant, but also a full house.

Almost too full for the cautious publisher, who otherwise stayed away from the hustle and bustle of the canceled book fair.

Andrew Plathaus

Responsible editor for literature and literary life.

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No book fair, but hustle and bustle?

In Leipzig it is: three hundred readings in four days, a number of spontaneous events by publishers, cultural event organizers and bookstores, as well as three small-format special book fairs, namely the long-established Independent Publishers Fair at the Academy of Visual Arts with eighty exhibitors this time, and the Leipzig Photobook, which is being held for the first time Festival in the Grassi Museum for applied arts at twenty and, above all, the "Pop-up", which was only set up privately after the cancellation of the big book fair, at which at least sixty independent literary publishers presented their offers.

Among them were crowd pullers such as Suhrkamp, ​​Matthes & Seitz, Klett-Cotta, Hanser, Kampa and CH Beck.

Accordingly, the pop-up book fair developed into an attraction:

sold out for all three days and, according to the exhibitors, both a communicative and a commercial success.

Selling books at the stands was generally permitted, but Suhrkamp, ​​for example, had delegated this right to a local bookshop.

The prevailing spirit in the high hall of the "Werk 2" venue was one of mutual help - also visible in the bulging book bags of the visitors at the exit.

Remembering the downtown book fairs of the past

Of course, with all of this we are talking about a fiftieth of the number of people who would normally have come to the local book fair, but what Leipzig stands for as a trade fair location compared to Frankfurt - conversation, relaxed atmosphere, proximity - was once again strengthened.

This time it was also close in that all the venues were close to the city center - one felt reminded of the traditional book fairs right on the market square, as they used to take place up to 1997.

One of the participants in the "book visit", Mark Lehmstedt, had even rented a restaurant in Barthels Hof, the last remaining baroque trade fair building in Leipzig, for his presentation of the publishing house.

That too was bursting at the seams.

And the city's literature house, which this time more than doubled its usual reading program during trade fairs,

Yesterday, Sunday, young photographers were offered a "Portfolio Review" in the Grassi Museum: a dozen experts assessed their work and gave recommendations for publication.

The tables were surrounded, and so another classic trade fair task was fulfilled.

The Manga Comic Convention, the biggest attraction for young readers at the Leipzig Book Fair, was largely without replacement.

Only the small, ambitious JaJa Verlag from Berlin held up the banner of comics with its own presentation in the city.

Oliver Zille, the director of the Leipzig Book Fair, was present almost everywhere – at the alternative fair locations, at the award ceremonies and at the readings.

He saw the good mood among those who had made their way here with mixed feelings.

Because even if the organizers of the pop-up book fair assure you that this was a one-off campaign, imitators of the recipe for success could appear next year and try a similarly ambitious offer in the middle of the city.

It's a good thing that the book fair has already received financial commitments from the city, state and federal government for next year's edition.

And the publishers have already confirmed their participation.

But that was also true for this year.

What still no one can predict

is the corona development.

What you can be pretty sure about, however, is the ingenuity of the independent publishing industry and the Leipzig book people.