Detailed exhibition plan ensures maximum health protection / Financial support from the NEUSTART KULTUR programme passed on to exhibitors / Registration deadline is 31 May 2021
Publishers can now register for the 73rd Frankfurter Buchmesse (20–24 October 2021). Dedicated to the topic “re:connect”, this year’s book fair is planned as an in-person event with additional digital formats, and can be flexibly adapted to pandemic-related developments. The focus will be on the international rights business and public events. This year’s Guest of Honour is Canada.
“In 2021, Frankfurter Buchmesse will again be an important meeting place – for the book industry, for authors and readers,” emphasised Juergen Boos, director of Frankfurter Buchmesse. “The industry needs an exchange and visibility more than ever. In recent months we’ve held in-depth discussions with our customers and created a plan tailored to the needs of our exhibitors. With our updated conditions for participating in the fair, and our generous cancellation policy and flexible programme, we want to make it easy for our exhibitors in Germany and around the world to decide in favour of coming to Frankfurt. As always, protecting the health of our exhibitors and visitors has top priority. Our planning processes are therefore flexible, allowing us to quickly adapt to changing requirements.” The 73rd Frankfurter Buchmesse is being supported by funds from the German government’s NEUSTART KULTUR programme. This assistance is being passed along to exhibitors, which means they will benefit from significantly lower fees for exhibition stands.
The on-site fair
It is planned to use Halls 3, 4 and 6, along with the Forum and the Festhalle. The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg) will be found at a new site in Hall 6.2. Frankfurter Buchmesse’s innovation areas, THE ARTS+ and Frankfurt Audio, will be centrally located on Level 0 of the Forum. The presentation by Guest of Honour Canada will remain on Level 1 of the Forum. Once again, an expansive stage in the Festhalle will host a series of events organised together with broadcaster ARD and other media partners – and all events are to be streamed live. A flexible in-person table format, Frankfurt Workstations, has been developed for Halls 3, 4 and 6 and the Forum – tables can be booked on a daily basis. The deadline for registering to participate on site in the fair is 31 May 2021.
Digital offerings
In addition, Frankfurter Buchmesse is further developing its digital offerings, for example by optimising its Matchmaking tool and digital rights platform Frankfurt Rights. The Frankfurt Conference programme, and the successful networking venue, The Hof will be continued. The calendar of events and exhibitor catalogue will be available in the Frankfurter Buchmesse app and online. “After Frankfurter Buchmesse 2020, we had a number of in-depth discussions with our customers and received very valuable feedback. We are now optimising our digital offerings based on what we heard,” said Boos.
Health and safety are the top priority
A detailed hygiene plan and framework conditions which take pandemic-related developments into account will ensure that the in-person event can be held safely. Frankfurter Buchmesse intends to use a spacious layout for the exhibition halls along with significantly wider walkways in order to control the flow of visitors. This year, the smallest exhibition stand will be 8 instead of 4 square metres. The additional costs that result will not be borne by the exhibitors, but underwritten with funds from the German government’s NEUSTART KULTUR programme. All participants in the fair must register in advance. The number of visitors will be monitored and adjusted based on the infection-control regulations in effect in October. This also means that Frankfurter Buchmesse will be open to the general public one day earlier than usual, on the Friday of the fair (22 October 2021).
Under the slogan “Singular Plurality”, Canada, Guest of Honour, will offer a diverse programme to present its literature and culture at Frankfurter Buchmesse this year. With over 300 published and soon-to-be released titles in 2021 by 248 publishers, the Canadian literary scene has an extraordinarily busy year ahead. Canada`s delegation, comprised of celebrated authors, illustrators and artists, is eager to be part of the official hybrid presence in Frankfurt in October.
