FRANKFURT - October in Germany. Time for Octoberfest, yes. But October also means six days of literary madness otherwise known as the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Thousands of exhibitors from Albania to Zimbabwe - publishers, literary agents, authors, and just about anyone who's got anything to do with the publishing business - have descended on this town. They're here to eat bratwurst and drink beer, browse and schmooze, see and be seen.
And, of course, there's business to be done.
"It's the most important event of the year," said Cathy Miller, the 50-year-old owner of the Cathy Miller Foreign Rights Agency of London, which specializes in nonfiction about psychology and business.
"We write to people all over the world all year," Miller said during a rare break between appointments. "This is a chance to meet them and to exchange ideas and business."
In fact, fair organizers estimate that 80 percent of the industry's international rights are traded during the fair.
It is an awesome spectacle. This year, more than 9,500 companies from 107 countries have exhibits, nearly 4 percent more than signed up last year. About 320,000 people are expected to walk the crowded trade-show aisles. The fair itself covers some 184,000 square meters. And with more than 300,000 books on display (nearly 80,000 of them new publications), it's hard to say whether it's a book-lovers' paradise or hell.
"I've never felt so lost in my entire life," said a man into his cell phone. The rest of us knew what he meant - and it's a feeling fairgoers throughout the ages might recognize.
Frankfurt's literary tradition goes back to the years following the invention of the lead letter-press by Johannes Gutenberg. At the beginning of the 15th century, writers and picture printers were already exhibiting at the imperial trading fairs held here.
The book fair soon became known for fostering free expression. Martin Luther was allowed to sell his writings at the Frankfurt fair when he was being denounced as a heretic in other parts of Germany.
But this openness didn't last. In 1608, Emperor Maximilian II ordered a newly formed book commission to visit all booksellers and confiscate unauthorized documents. This was the beginning of the decline of Frankfurt as Germany's publishing center. By 1764, booksellers from other parts of the country abandoned Frankfurt and did their business to the east in Leipzig instead. After World War II, Leipzig remained the center of the eastern book trade, and Frankfurt was reinstated as West Germany's book-trading center. Even as technology has made it ever easier to communicate anywhere, anytime, the book fair has remained a must-do in the publishing industry. Christoph Santner, a 36-year-old former journalist, self-titled Future Expert, and committed fair-goer, has a theory about why.
"The more you have email and the Internet, etc., the rarer real contact becomes. And therefore it becomes a bigger luxury," said Santner, whose Bavarian company offers business seminars on the future.
The most talked-about author Thursday was Günter Grass. The occasion: his 70th birthday. Newspapers, magazines, and television stations from Hamburg to Munich sang praises to the novelist and poet who is known as the foremost literary representative of post-war Germany.
As tribute and salute, his publisher is releasing a 16-book collection of Grass' work. Along with it, 23 CDs on which Grass reads the novel Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum).
Tough luck for Grass' German-impaired fans - the CDs are only available in German. But his newest novel, Too Far Afield, will be released early next year.
Frankfurt Book Fair Coverage:
Frankfurt Book Fair Has Deep Roots, Techno Leanings
16.Oct.97
