The Frankfurt Book Fair is a little quieter than in years past, but not much, and many of the faces are the same, but not all of them. The coffee shops and bars around the fair have been bustling with activity, with small groups negotiating deals over early morning beers (it’s Germany, after all), while others nearby, upon spotting each other for the first time, embrace enthusiastically, and remark excitedly aloud, “How long has it been? Three years?”
For many, the isolation and loneliness of three years of Zoom calls have banished any cynicism one might have previously felt about the annual grind of traveling to Frankfurt for the fair. One publisher, asking for anonymity, told me, “It’s just not the same trying to buy and sell books over Zoom. It might be efficient, but it’s not fun and it’s not effective.” Why the insistence on anonymity? Their boss would have preferred that they stay home, rather than rack up the heavy expenses that can come with a Frankfurt trip. Zoom is cheaper than travel.
That said, with U.S. dollar at parity with the euro, Frankfurt does feel, if not cheap, then at least less exploitative than in the past. A typically spartan European hotel room can be had for less than €300 a night, and beer at the Frankfurter Hof—an always reliable barometer of economic exuberance tied to the fair—is pegged at €8 a glass, which feels cheaper than in previous years. There is also a new, perhaps unwelcome sense of thrift in the city, which has led to some minor frustrations. Exhibitor passes no longer cover public transportation and it is cash only in many bars and restaurants, as institutions seek to avoid paying credit card fees.
In her speech at the opening press conference of the fair, Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, director of the Boersenverein, the German booksellers’ and publishers’ association, acknowledged there was economic trepidation, especially tied to rising energy prices as a result of Vladimir Putin’s cutting of energy supplies to Germany. “If a bookstore sees its energy cost go up 300%...it may go bust,” she said of the stress.
There have been some notable changes in the city since many fairgoers were last here. Some are unwelcome, such as the closing of the Hotel Hessischer Hof, and others more appreciated, like the arrival of salads on menus around the city. Pre-pandemic, schnitzel and soup were staple German menu items, while finding something leafy and green to eat was near impossible. Perhaps the presence of vegetables in attendees' diets this week will help them avoid contracting the traditional “Frankfurt flu” and, of course, Covid.
Speaking of Covid, the ongoing pandemic means that a majority of the agents, editors and publishers from Asia are absent from this year’s fair. China continues to impose lockdowns, and others from the region have opted to stay home. It’s a disappointment for many, as the Asian markets represent half the population of the world, and publishers from the region have been among the most eager buyers of book rights for the past decade.
The other large group missing from the fair are Russian publishers, who were banned following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. As noted, the war has had an economic impact, and Putin’s recent nuclear saber-rattling has some people feeling a little on edge about the time spent in Germany. While no U.S. or U.K. publishers were reported to have called off their visit to the fair due to the threat of the use of nukes, one person planned to travel to Frankfurt with a supply of iodine pills used to treat side effects of radiation poisoning. “Better safe than sorry,” they said.
One side effect the war has brought is new attention to the beleaguered nation of Ukraine and its rich literature. Benas Bèrantas, founder of the Book Smugglers Literary Agency in Vilnius, Lithuania, remarked: “The return of the full-scale fair this year with a huge focus and deserved attention to Ukrainian literature is vitally important for the Ukrainian publishers and people of Ukraine as a sign of support in their battle for peace.” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the fair this week, and just prior to the fair it was announced that A Message from Ukraine, a collection of Zelensky’s speeches on the war, will be published by Penguin Random House worldwide
Ukraine is not the only geopolitical concern for publishers. “The skies over Iran have darkened,” said Juergen Boos, the fair director, in his opening speech of the fair, referring to the countrywide violence sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, which culminated this weekend in the death of four and 61 injured at the notorious Evin Prison riot. In this way, fiction, it seems, in times of global crisis, is one tool to help save us. The Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid believes this is so and outlined just how in his own speech during the fair’s opening press conference.
“As our world turns away from cooperation, this is why novels are important. Not only because they tell us stories of people who are different from us, and allow us to empathize, and encourage us to blur the boundaries between one group and another,” he said. “No, novels are also important because of their form, because writing and reading a book is itself a profound and hopeful act of cooperation.”
