In Frankfurter Buchmesse’s 2023 Literary Agents and Scouts Center (LitAg) set in Hall 6.2, as this year’s center will be. Image: FBM, Ingo Hattendorf
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
LitAg: 320 Agencies Book 540 Tables
In its media messaging this morning (July 31), Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 16 to 20) reports that the Literary Agents and Scouts Center is again a sellout, at 540 tables taken by 320 agencies from 31 countries.
The “LitAg,” as it’s known, of course, is the heart of Frankfurt—as these international translation and rights centers are in other book-business trade shows. Set this year in Hall 6.2, the center’s most heavily represented world markets include the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Sweden, and Guest of Honor Italy.
Frankfurt’s Publishers Rights Center—the associated facility, standing adjacent to the LitAg—reportedly is approaching a sellout of its own, functioning for a second year as a hub for international rights directors, licensing specialists, and other professionals whose work involves the globalization of literature through language and territorial licensing and the growingly close relationship between book publishing and the screens, in development for film, television, and other media sectors.
In the realm of rights and licensing, training for trade visitors interested in the field is to be offered on Frankfurt Wednesday, October 16, on The Arts+ Stage (Hall 4.1) with a round table on royalty standards, a session coordinated with the United States’ Book Industry Study Group (BISG).
In addition, as Publishing Perspectives readers know, the Frankfurt Rights Meeting —again this year presented in a hybrid format—has opened is registration for its series of four weekly digital sessions starting on September 3, followed by an in-person reception on October 15 at Frankfurt. The conference, a fixture at Frankfurt in one format or another for more than three decades, will place some emphasis this year on the Polish, Czech, and Romanian markets.
Games and Screen Rights and Development
At Frankfurter Buchmesse’s LitAg and Publishers Rights Center (PRC) in the 2023 trade show. Image: FBM, Anett Weirauch
As you’ll recall from our story this month, Frankfurt this year features a new Games Business Center, which is designed to leverage rights and licensing in the gaming sector for publishers who want to meet with games industry figures.
This is an initiative of Frankfurt with Bologna Children’s Book Fair (March 31 to April 3), so the international traveling rights and licensing corps of these major trade shows’ professional attendees will find a cohesive set of conversations available to them, from fair to fair.
And in what is for many the biggest prize in rights development, another Book-to-Screen Day is planned for this year on Frankfurt Friday, October 18, with its customary facilitation of meetings between filmmakers and book professionals in one-on-one meetings for producers, publishers, and agents. Registration for this element is made by email at film@buchmesse.de.
Features of the plans conveyed to us include master classes, networking, and presentations, with partners including
- ACE Producers Network
- Academy for Children’s Media
- The Berlinale Co-Production Market
- B3, Festival of the Moving Image
- Hessen Film & Medien
- Taiwan’s multidisciplinary-arts program TAICCA
Among selected events during Book to Film day are these, all on October 18 and all on The Arts+ Stage (Hall 4.1).
10 a.m.: Master Class: Best Practices for the Film Adaptation Business with Maÿlis Vauterin and Delphine Clot of Matriochkas Bureau audiovisuel et littéraire
11 a.m.: Book-to-Screen & Screen-to-Book: A Crime Writer’s Life Between Films and Books, with Taiwan’s bestselling author Katniss Hsiao (Before We Were Monsters)
12 p.m.: French bestselling author Timothée de Fombelle, talking about adapting books for children and young adults
And lastly, earlier this month when we wrote up the forthcoming “Frankfurt Kids” conference, we mentioned that rights specialists are on the speaker list, one of them being Ivan Fedechko, rights sales manager with Lviv’s Old Lion Publishing House in Ukraine.
In Frankfurt’s 2009 Literary Agent and Scouts Center. Image: FBM: Peter Hirth
More advance looks at Frankfurt events and activities will come in ensuing coverage.
A calendar of events is expected to be posted by organizers at the end of August.
- Tickets, as we’ve reported, are selling now here.
- Information on sponsored master-class events and “The Hof” as pre-fair digital events is here.
- And, as reported earlier this week, Frankfurt Connect, a new development of the trade show’s online presence, is here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on international book publishing trade shows and book fairs is here, more on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on rights and licensing is here, and our Rights Roundup series found here.