Frankfurter Buchmesse, Markus Dohle will open Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing / Guest of Honour Canada presents the Canada Night and more.

The 73rd Frankfurter Buchmesse will officially be open tonight. At the Opening Ceremony, Her Excellency Mary May Simon, Governor General of Canada, will be on stage and take part in the inauguration of Canada’s Guest of Honour Pavilion.

And there’s a lot more coming up in the next five days: The Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing programme will cover current issues of international publishing, kicking off tomorrow with Markus Dohle in conversation with Porter Anderson. Robin Warner and Klaus Driever are guests at the traditional CEO Talk.

Part of the programme are two firsts for at Frankfurter Buchmesse: the announcement of the finalists for the Cundill History Prize on Wednesday night and the STARTS DAY on Friday.

Canada Night will celebrate the Guest of Honour with many Canadian authors and artists, interviews and live performances in the Festhalle.

The BOOKFEST programme will span the entire city and include readings featuring former, current and future Guest of Honour countries.

The Resilience of Publishing, Innovation, Key Markets, and Independent Publishing

Penguin Random House global CEO Markus Dohle kicks off the Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing programme, followed by interviews and panels highlighting advances in technology and insights into publishing in the Spain and Arabic markets, and featuring announcements of key awards.

In speaking with Publishing Perspectives’ editor-in-chief Porter Anderson, in this inaugural Frankfurt Studio interview originating live and in-person on the fairgrounds on Wednesday, 20 October, at 10 am CEST, Penguin Random House global CEO Markus Dohle is expected to touch on the singular nature of book publishing’s resilience in a time of extraordinary challenges at international scale.

How to best support artists in the pandemic?

Artists are key to the success of the creative industries. Understanding how the COVID 19 crisis affects their financial situation is crucial for designing the right policies. Original WIPO research explores this question and identifies most vulnerable groups among them.

Alexander Cuntz from the World Intellectual Property Organization will explain the research findings and give a preview of the presentation of the WIPO Publishing Industry Report on Wednesday, 20 October 2021, at 11 am in the Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing programme.

Literature at night

The #fbm21 Guest of Honour Canada has been highlighting locations that are meaningful to the official delegation of authors and illustrators. Follow along as our social media accounts “travel” next to Whitehorse, the hometown of author Ivan Coyote, and then to British Columbia, home of authors Nancy Vo and Esi Edugyan.

Making sense of the big business in books (and the small businesses) with Robin Warner and Klaus Driever

Building on the new “Global 50 Ranking of the International Publishing Industry 2021”, the editors of Bookdao (China), buchreport (Germany), Livres Hebdo (France) and Publishers Weekly (US). will talk to New York based investment banker Robin Warner of Oaklin DeSilva+Philips, and Klaus Driever of Munich based Allianz Group.

The traditional CEO Talk hosted by Rüdiger Wischenbart at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021 will investigate deep transformative shifts that currently re-define much of the international book business, notably the strong push in mergers and acquisitions, and the consumer centric business strategies.

Finalists announcement of major history prize live in the Frankfurt Studio

In a special event on Wednesday night at 6.00 pm, the three finalists for the Cundill History Prize will be announced at Frankfurter Buchmesse for the first time. Hosted by Dan Snow, the event will bring together Canadian historian and politician Michael Ignatieff and renowned historian Margaret MacMillan for an online discussion.

Readings in Frankfurt city with Aka Morchiladze, Marek Toman, Miljana Cunta and Kinga Tóth, among others

Visitors can expect a programme full of books, insights and engaging discussions. BOOKFEST 2021 has a lot to offer on an international level as well: Georgian author Aka Morchiladze will put in an appearance at Roomers (21 October, 5.00 pm); Instituto Cervantes will welcome Dacia Maraini, Rosa Montero and Nastassja Martin for an evening event entitled Literatur öffnet Horizonte – Drei mutige Europäerinnen im Gespräch (Literature Expands Horizons – Three Courageous Europeans in Conversation) (22 October, 7.30 pm); Czech author Marek Toman will read from his novel Lob des Opportunismus (In Praise of Opportunism) (23 October, 7.00 pm); Slovenian poets Miljana Cunta, Anja Zag Golob and Ana Pepelnik will gather at YokYok (22 October, 7.00 pm); and the Frankfurter Hof hotel will host a literary evening with Hungarian poets Anne-Marie Kenessey, Anna Terék and Kinga Tóth (23 October, 7.00 pm).