The Messe Frankfurt in preparations for the 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse, opening Wednesday (October 16) to run through Sunday. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Porter Anderson
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘In a Dialogue With the Rest of the World’
While much is being made of the incoming Guest of Honor Italy‘s special piazza-inspired pavilion here at Frankfurter Buchmesse (Wednesday through Sunday), the Italian Collective Stand is coming in at what organizers say is a record size.
Covering more than 668 square meters (7,190 square feet), the stand will hold 230 exhibitors, seven regions, and one autonomous province—Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Lombardia, Piemonte, Puglia, Veneto e Provincia Autonoma di Bolzan.
At least 230 exhibitors, publishing houses, and literary agents will be represented on the stand, either with their own spaces or in the collective section.
The Italian Collective Stand is organized by the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in collaboration with the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori, the Italian Publishers Association (AIE).
It will be inaugurated on Frankfurt’s opening day, Wednesday, at 10:30 a.m. CEST in the presence of the Italian and German ministers of culture, Alessandro Giuli and Claudia Roth.
Matteo Zoppas
Matteo Zoppas, president of the Italian Trade Agency, says about the moment arriving this week, “With the aim of enhancing the richness of our literary production, the Italian Trade Agency, together with AIE, has organized a collective stand of more than 130 publishing houses and operators in the sector.
“In addition to the Buchmesse, ITA supports Italian publishing at major international fairs and facilitates the participation of foreign buyers at various events in Italy. These activities are key to strengthening a sector that, after difficulties in 2023, is experiencing a significant recovery with 8.5-percent growth in the first half of 2024.
“Germany, in particular, is confirmed as the second-largest market outlet in Europe for Italian publishing products, with sales up 10.5 percent. Literature represents a fundamental vehicle for the promotion of Italian identity and creativity internationally.
“This is why ITA will continue to support companies in the sector, contributing to the enhancement of this ‘Made in Italy’ excellence.”
Innocenzo Cipolletta
Innocenzo Cipolletta, the AIE president, says the publishers’ association “has promoted a program of professional meetings that gives voice to the entire book supply chain, recounts its excellence, and confronts great international professionals: Italy’s guest of honor presentation will be the story of the authors who make Italian literature known abroad, but also the story of a strong, innovative and forward-looking industry that works on technological frontiers and questions the changes our profession faces, in a continuous dialogue with the rest of the world.”
21 Professional Program Events on the Stand
The Italian Collective Stand will be the venue for a professional program organized by AIE in collaboration with ITA and Italy Guest of Honor 2024 at Frankfurt and involving many elements of the book supply chain. These factors are joined by nine others organized by regions and autonomous provinces.
Meetings in Room 1 are held in Italian and English—simultaneous translation with headphones available), and in Room 2 in English. The full program is attached.
Programming starts on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m, with 36 Years On: The Italian Book Market Today, which will tell how the Italian book industry has changed from 1988, the first year it was guest of honor at Frankfurt, to today and how it intends to face the future.
After greetings by Cipolletta and the presentation of data on the first eight months of the trade market in Italy by AIE’s research office, speakers will feature publishers Giovanni Hoepli (Hoepli); Stefano Mauri (Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol, or GeMS); and Susanne Schüssler (Verlag Klaus Wagenbach) will speak, moderated by Karen Krüger (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).
The traditional white-on-white Italian collective stand design developed for the ‘Spazio Italia,’ in this image at the 2022 Frankfurter Buchmesse. Image: AIE
More from Publishing Perspectives on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on the Italian publishing market is here, more on Guest of Honor Italy at Frankfurt is here, more on translation rights is here, and more on translation and translators is here.