in June that it would not be taking a stand. But Rebecca Folland, rights director for Hodder, Headline, John Murray Press and Quercus, says a few of her team will atend, along with colleagues from Orion and Bookouture. Last week they collectively booked a few tables in Hall 6.
We felt that anything that might set us apart would be worthwhile... it’s looking like we’ll be facing the usual back- to-back half-hour meetings Georgina Le Grice, United Agents
Folland echoes Le Grice, saying that she had “a lot of, ‘Are you going? I might go, then’ conversations”. She adds: “It was the chance to see my rights colleagues at Hachete France that tipped it, and since then there seem to be more and more people deciding to make the trip. Two of us are tacking on a trip to Munich to see German publishers in their offices. As well as the actual meetings, walking around the halls, going into some bookshops in Frankfurt and the added extra of just being at FBF, I’m sure all of that will bring us new ideas, energy and knowledge.”
Return of the native
It has been a strange couple of years for Frankfurt-born Daniela Schlingmann, founder of Daniela Schlingmann Literary Scouting (DSLS), who hadn’t missed a major book fair in the previous 25 years. She will atend this FBF, though the rest of the DSLS team will remain in London. She says: “Fairs are the heart and soul of scouting work and a key marker in the publishing calendar. It’s significant to note that we all continued to arrange ourselves in the same time patern without the [physical fairs being held], this included a virtual London Book Fair 2021, which we and our contacts held in spring.” Like most in the rights world, DSLS has had significant challenges shiſting to remote work- ing. But some of those changes have been beneficial: “Video meetings were previously a small part of our strategy… we have also been able to grow our international contacts, travel to different continents and overcome different time zones effectively on video. The DSLS team has been on board with a number of dynamic changes we undertook last year: we have significantly grown our team and client roster, and hybrid working has enabled us to do it.”
TheBookseller.com
Most agree that fairs next year and beyond, even if all vestiges of the pandemic are eradi- cated, will not return as they were. Not least Boos. Even though he is bullish about a return to some tpe of normalit, and foresees a book trade keen to get back to physical meet-ups, he notes that portions of the trial by fire of FBF 2020 are here to stay. Boos says: “We expanded our reach [with last year’s digital fair] and are actually very grateful for that. Delivering a digital programme was a big change for us, and we have learned a lot from being able to do that. We will use those new skills in the years ahead. The hybrid format is here to stay… our ultimate aim at Frankfurter Buchmesse is to reach as many people as we can, and by mixing a physical and virtual programme, we can achieve that.”
The personal touch Folland says that physical book fairs are “absolutely necessary. We have missed the word-of-mouth, the percolation of an idea, the side conversations that happen when you’re not in the room (or Zoom)... the physicalit of reaching behind you when you’re on a stand to show that beautiful proof. And, let’s be honest, the energy. “Having said that, I imagine the future will be hybrid, where we incorporate more online elements to broaden inclusion so that more people around the world can participate. What we can do is add all the new knowledge we have about how to do things online back into a world where we travel and, yes, go to book fairs. That’s incredibly exciting.” Schlingmann says physical fairs “will be back for good, but with a different focus. They are for networking and creative exchange, for forming new relationships and maintaining existing ones—not necessarily for deal-making.”
She also adds a note on what may be called FBF exceptionalism. Schlingmann says: “Frankfurt has many different roles to play, and that makes it so unique: it’s a hub for the international rights crowd, but mainly a major place for the German publishing industry to get together and promote authors, and it is a wonderful place for the general public to engage with books and their creators. We from the international ‘publishing gang’ oſten miss out on that part—and we avoid the crowds flooding in at the weekend. But as a native Frankfurter, this reminds me every year of how I would visit the fair with my family or friends from universit, hoping to find new books, see writers that I admired, bag a signed copy, be inspired and get excited about what I could never get enough of: reading books.”
Frankfurt Book Fair 2021 Event Highlights
TSITSI DANGAREMBGA Cornelia Funke and
Andrew Nurnberg Frankfurter Hof/The Hof, 19th October, 18.00
The bestselling children’s author Funke and her long-time agent Nurnberg will discuss her career and how the two work together. Held live at both the well-known Frankfurt hotel and on “the Hof”, FBF’s virtual networking platform.
Canada Night Festhalle, 20th October, 20.00
The Guest of Honour country kicks off its literary programme with a series of discussion panels featuring five authors at the Messe, and Margaret Atwood joining remotely, plus live music performances. The event will also be streamed on FBF’s website.
Press conference with
Tsitsi Dangarembga Room Entente, Hall 4.C, 22nd October, 10.00
The Zimbabwean writer—whose This Mournable Body (Faber) was shortlisted for last year’s Booker Prize—will talk about being awarded this year’s Peace Prize for the German Book Trade, her work and her civil liberties activism.
Colm Tóibín Hall 3.1, C15, 22nd October, 15.00
The Irish author discusses his newest novel, The Magician, based on the life of Thomas Mann.
All times Central European Summer Time. 07
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