Aunque en la información de prensa que aporta la organización de la Frankfurter Buchmesse se habla de gran éxito en el nuevo concepto de feria, la realidad es que la sensación ha sido de que el recinto se ha comprimido y que el número de visitantes profesionales ha disminuido un poco.
En cualquier caso, la feria sigue siendo de lejos la más espectacular del mundo del libro y ver el pabellón alemán durante los días de público es una envidia para los que tenemos que sufrir nuestro querido Liber.
Para Lantia ha sido el primer año con presencia en stand. La experiencia y opciones de negocio han merecido la pena. El jueves día 15 estuvimos en la recepción del Instituto Cervantes a las empresas españolas acompañados por el embajador de España en Alemania Pablo García-Berdoy Cerezo con quien estuvimos compartiendo algunos momentos.
Adjunto el reporte de prensa que me hacen llegar desde la feria.
The Book Fair verdict: New concept a success
The most political, but also the most youthful Book Fair in years/ visitor numbers increased by two percent/ taking stock of the LitAg, the Business Club and the new Book Fair concept
Frankfurt, 18 October 2015 – Salman Rushdie opened the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 with a plea for freedom of opinion. And over the next five days, the Book Fair remained a place of debate about moral codes and the boundaries of tolerance. From an organisational point of view, the new concept of the Book Fair supported the dynamics of this year’s event.
Director of the Book Fair, Juergen Boos, shared his impressions: «The new neighbourhoods created by the restructuring have strengthened the feeling of togetherness. At the same time, they’ve opened people’s eyes to new areas of business. It’s now clear that there is still plenty of scope for all the communities to expand their international licensing business.» And he detected euphoria in the industry as a whole: «2015 has been the busiest and most successful Book Fair for years! Exhibitors from all the different regions told me the same thing time and again in our personal talks.»
The Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 in detail
· Positive visitor numbers: By the end of today, the Book Fair expects to have welcomed around 275,000 visitors (trade visitor days: 140,474). That means a two percent increase in visitor numbers compared to last year. Also, the number of attending journalists has increased. It rose from 9,300 in 2014 to around 9,900 journalists in 2015. (Status 3.00 pm. Figures will be updated at 6.30 pm)
· Political Book Fair: «The political tensions around the globe have had a direct and very apparent impact on the literature business,» said Director Juergen Boos today, at the close of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2015. «This was demonstrated, for example, by Zeruya Shalev’s surprisingly personal description of everyday life in Israel, during her «Brigitte Live» talk, and in the meeting in the Weltempfang between Iranian publishers and Navid Kermani, winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.» Heinrich Riethmüller, President of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, said: «The book industry has taken a clear stance in support of freedom of opinion and the freedom to publish.»
· Rejuvenation: The venues and exhibition areas for new communities added to the overall dynamic. Bloggers on books, food and do-it-yourself trends held their own events, thereby enhancing the world of publishing both as creators and consumers. Some 300 participants turned up in the new Orbanism Space in Hall 4.1, just to attend the LovelyBooks meeting for readers and bloggers. The Orbanism Space was organised by Leander Wattig and Christiane Frohmann, in a partnership with the Frankfurt Book Fair. This new room quickly established itself as the meeting place at the fair for the digital content industry and its networks. Stimulating and self-assured, young digital professionals occupied podiums and stands in all the other halls of the fair, too. Riethmüller welcomed this clear trend from the point of view of the book industry: «The book industry has intensified its contacts with start-ups and new market players, so that we can work together to develop innovative business models for the market.
· The new Book Fair concept: New, thematically arranged neighbourhoods inspired additional business. “The new Gourmet Gallery shows particularly clearly how effectively communities define themselves at the fair, and what new business opportunities that generates,» said Juergen Boos. «For example, there were extremely lively exchanges between the Gourmet Gallery – to which we welcomed a large number of new exhibitors – and the calendar gallery.»
· LitAg: The new Book Fair concept was also welcomed by the agents and scouts of the LitAg, in Hall 6. For them, it meant a new proximity to the English-speaking publishers. According to the organisers, the keenest interest among the agents was for Scandinavian literature. In all, some 620 agents were present.
· Business Club: Once again, the Frankfurt Book Fair’s Business Club proved to be the central meeting place for the creative pioneers and key players in the international content and media business. In all, some 3,200 guests from 48 countries made use of the professional products and services offered by the business platform. The round-up of the Business Club suggests that some 1,200 appointments were arranged between participants.
· Visitors weekend: The weekend proved that true fans of literature are not put off by cold weather. Visitors thronged in front of the Star Wars Poetry Slam in the newly designed Agora. In the heated Reading Tent, literary stars like Jenny Erpenbeck attracted such large crowds that the doors had to be closed for some periods. And the cosplayers in their imaginative outfits made sure that the Book Fair weekend will remain in people’s memories as a colourful and diverse festival of literature.
