At Frankfurter Buchmesse: Aldus Up’s 2022 Programming

In News by Porter Anderson

The Aldus Up network of European book fairs has partnered with many sister programs to produce an extensive series of events at Frankfurt.

At the 2018 Frankfurter Buchmesse. Image: FBM, Anett Weinrauch

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

See also:
Events in the Publishing Perspectives Forum
A Future Frankfurt Guest of Honor: Italy Has 147 Exhibitors
Germany’s Börsenverein Lists Events for Frankfurter Buchmesse

‘A List of Events That Tackle All the Project Lines’
Our Publishing Perspectives readers are very familiar with the “Aldus” network of European book fairs, coordinated by the Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE), the Italian publishers’ association. Since we began covering the program, its name has changed to Aldus Up, in 2020. That adjustment marked the end of one project (2016 to 2020, as Aldus), and the beginning of another one (2020 to the present, as Aldus Up).

The program remains a research and industry-support organization, a large-scale collaborative project co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program, and based in its network of 20 European book fairs—including international fairs like Frankfurt, Bologna, Spain’s Liber, and London.

We were particularly pleased in June of 2021 to learn that Aldus Up, the second-generation program, if you will, was embarking on an effort in “publishing research coherence.”

Anyone who works in the international book publishing industry sphere as we do knows that when European markets study and survey their translation trends and consumer reading patterns, the results tend to be very hard to compare, country by country. Different research criteria in any field, of course, lead to that incoherence of comparative data. In many English cultures, the phrase “apples and oranges” is used to indicate that two things can’t be coherently compared to each other.

When the International Publishers Association‘s (IPA) International Publishers Congress in Jakarta is seated (November 10 to 12) in Jakarta, Aldus Up’s Luis González from Madrid will join us with some insights into this effort, in a discussion that Publishing Perspectives will moderate, “Promoting Reading: Gender and Generations–Reading Now and When?” More on this is coming, and in the meantime, you can find out more about the congress’ programming for Indonesia here.

Meanwhile, Aldus Up is the organization behind some strong programming at Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 19 to 23). At Frankfurt, see A Cornerstone Toward Comprehensive Data o European Reading Habits, an Aldus Up event with González at 10 a.m. on the trade show’s opening day, October 19.

But don’t be surprised when you see the Aldus Up name appearing in association with many programs at Frankfurt. Aldus Up is a highly cooperative program that tends to lend its support to many in the world industry who need coordination in providing meaningful programming.

Speaking on behalf of the Aldus Up project, Frankfurt’s Marifé Boix García points out that Frankfurt’s slogan Translate. Transfer. Transform. “goes further than the mere translation of a text into another language: transfer ideas, transform mind settings, transfer stories into other creative industries, and more.

“This matches perfectly with the Aldus Up project and we proudly present together, with many other partners, a list of events that tackle all the project lines like diversity and inclusion; accessibility; translation; reading promotion; facts regarding the European book market; matchmaking with film industry players; insights into challenges at different book fairs; and more technical approaches such as methodologies for surveys on reading promotion,” that last point being the one we’ve mentioned above.

The Aldus Up roster of activities runs to some 10 pages. What we’ll do here is give you an abbreviated listing, linking to further details wherever we’re able to find an appropriate link. Much of the program can be surfaced in Frankfurt’s event listings by inputting Aldus Up in the free text area of an advanced-search page. Where we have no linkage on an event title, it means that we are unable to find a link for the event listed by Aldus Up.

Frankfurt Programming With Aldus Up Participation

Wednesday, October 19

October 19, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Congress Centre, Level 3, Room Illusion, in English
The Frankfurt Kids Conference (requires purchase of a separate ticket, at €121 or €250
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and Every Story Matters, a European Union project

October 19, 10 to 10:45 a.m., Guest of Honor Spain’s “professional stage,” Hall 4.1, D4, in English
A Cornerstone Toward Comprehensive Data on European Reading Habits
Organized by Federación de Gremios de Editores de España and Germán Sánchez Ruipérez Foundation 

October 19, 10 a.m., Translators Center, in English
“Blind Translation” / Blinde Übersetzung
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and DialogMuseum

October 10, 10:30 a.m., Frankfurt Studio, Hall 4.0, Room Europa, in English
The Book Market in Europe 2021/2022: Main Data and Trends,” registration here
Organized by the Federation of European Publishers

October 19, 3 p.m., Frankfurt Studio, Hall 4.0, Room Europa, in English
Accessibility in Action: Three Challenges for the Publishing Industry
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse, Fondazione LIA, Federation of European Publishers, International Publishers Association

October 19, 4 p.m., Hall 4, Room Entente
Networking Reception on Accessible Publishing
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse, Fondazione LIA, Federation of European Publishers, International Publishers Association

Thursday, October 20

October 20, 10:30 a.m., 4C, Room Alliance, in English
Pathways Into Children’s Book Publishing
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and Pop Up Projects, UK

October 20, 11:30 a.m., 4C Room Alliance, in English
Inclusion and Accessibility in Different Regions of the World
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and the German Federal Foreign Office, the Invitation Program 

October 20, 1:30 p.m., 4C, Room Alliance, in English
Climate Change, Narrative and Audience Development in Children’s Books in Different Contexts
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and the German Federal Foreign Office, the Invitation Program 

October 20, 2:30 p.m., 4C, Room Alliance, in English
“Reading Images: The Importance of Picture Books To Encourage Children To Read”
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse, Guest of Honor Spain/Asociación Album!, Pop Up Projects, UK

October 20, 2:30 p.m., 4C, Room Alliance, in English
Reading Promotion and Role Models
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse, LitCam, Verband Bildungsmedien, EU Read, Guest of Honor Spain/Athletic Bilbao Foundation

October 20, 3:30 p.m., 4C, Room Alliance, in English
Learning From the Comic Industry
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and the German Federal Foreign Office, the Invitation Program 

October 20, 4:30 p.m., Room Alliance, in English
Everyday Stories Around Europe
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and Guest of Honor Spain/Barbara Fiore Editora/Irudika

October 20, 5 p.m., Frankfurt Pavilion, in English
Meet the European Union Prize for Literature 2022 writers
Organized by EUPL and the Federation of European Publishers

October 20, 7:30 p.m., Orangerie im Günthersburgpark, in German
Reading in the Dark
Organized by Fondazione LIA, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, MediaCampus, Blinden- und Sehbehindertenbund in Hessen e.V. (BSBH), Frankfurter Buchmesse

Friday, October 21

October 21, 10:30 am., by invitation only
Book Meets Film 
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse in cooperation with the Berlinale Co-Production Market

October 21, 1 p.m.
The Book Fair Directors’ Round Table: Issues and Outlooks
Organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse and Publishing Perspectives


At Frankfurt, join us for the inaugural edition of Publishing Perspectives Forum, a two-day program of leading and influential professionals in the international publishing industry discussing today’s challenges, dynamics, and trends.

One of our sessions, “How the Article-Based Economy is Transforming Research Publishing,” is at 3 p.m. October 19, Frankfurt Wednesday.

Academic publishing is changing significantly as its operating system moves away from big deals and more towards the new realities of an article-based economy. While a major driver of this change is open access, the impact is being felt far beyond just a shift in access to content. New players are entering the field, new ways of working are evolving, patterns in searching and discovering content are changing, and new intermediaries are emerging to support the changing requirements. The panel will look at the evolving landscape of scholarly publishing from the perspective of all relevant stakeholder groups. With speakers:

  • Tobias Kuhn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam — Netherlands
  • Liz Ferguson, senior vice-president, Research Publishing, Wiley — United States
  • Philipp Hess, head of publisher relations, ResearchGate — Germany
  • Dr. Olaf Ernst, chief solutions officer, Oable — Germany
  • Dr. Irina Sens, head of library operations, TIB Hannover — Germany
  • Moderator: Sven Fund, senior director, Knowledge Unlatched — Germany

Attendance is free of charge for all Frankfurter Buchmesse exhibitors and trade visitors. The program language is English. You’ll find full details and developing news here

More from Publishing Perspectives on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, and more on Aldus Up is here.

More from us on the still-ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.

About the Author

Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson is a non-resident fellow of Trends Research & Advisory, and he has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.