An eclectic range of topics will be in focus at the world’s biggest book fair, which opens today, from a row over an Italian mafia author to growing interest in wacky literary subgenres and artificial intelligence in publishing.
The Frankfurt Book Fair brings together authors, publishers and other industry players over five days in the western German city.
Big names include Israeli author and historian Yuval Noah Harari, best known for Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, US writer Anne Applebaum and British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak.
Photo: AFP
However, the run-up has been marred by a row in Italy, this year’s “guest of honor,” an annual tradition intended to shine a spotlight on a partner country’s literary scene.
Fury erupted after the initial official selection put forward by the Italians did not include Roberto Saviano, author of mafia bestseller Gomorrah, who was convicted and fined last year for defaming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Following the move, Saviano lashed out on social media at what he branded the “most ignorant government in the history of Italy.”
In the end he is coming to the fair anyway, but at the invitation of his German publisher.
Critics say it is further evidence of a worsening climate for freedom of expression in Italy, with 41 authors writing an open letter in response that complained of “increasingly suffocating political interference in cultural spaces.”
The Italian Publishers Association insisted that it would never allow any kind of “outside interference” in the program, called “Roots in the future.”
The fair is no stranger to controversy — last year, several publishers from Muslim-majority countries withdrew in protest at organizers’ strong support for Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks that triggered the Gaza war.
Fair director Juergen Boos insisted it was right to maintain Italy as guest of honor, despite the controversy.
“I think to showcase what’s happening in Italy’s culture right now, in Italy’s politics, it is very important,” he said.
There is much more going on besides the controversy surrounding Italy — the world’s biggest publishing trade event this year welcomes about 1,000 authors and other speakers at some 650 events on 15 stages.
A large area is dedicated to “new adult” literature, which encompasses a weird and outlandish range of sub-genres beloved of younger readers, such as “Romantasy” and “Dark College.”
These genres have been rapidly growing in popularity, often boosted by exposure through social media trend BookTok on the TikTok platform, where authors promote their work and readers post reviews.
Artificial intelligence will also be a major topic, with talks and panel discussions dedicated to the subject, as fears mount in the industry about poor-quality, computer-written books flooding the market and potential copyright violations. Leading authors, including John Grisham and Jodi Picoult, have in recent times taken legal action against OpenAI, alleging the company unlawfully used their works to train its popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Still it is not all doom and gloom. There are hopes that AI can improve efficiency for publishers and also that it could be beneficial in some areas, such as scientific and research publishing.
“On the one side it’s beneficial for the workflows in the publishing houses,” Boos said. “On the other hand, regarding copyright, it’s a big mess.”
An annual highlight is the awarding of the prestigious “Peace of the German Book Trade,” which this year goes to Applebaum, an American-Polish journalist and historian whose latest book Autocracy Inc examines the growing links between authoritarian states.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS