An audience at Frankfurter Buchmesse, 2015. Image: FBM, Alexander Heimann
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also:
Rights Roundup: On to Frankfurt’s Fairgrounds
Rights Edition: Taiwan in Frankfurt With Three Stands, Translation Funding
International Translation Day: Curtis Brown’s Rights Teams
UAE: Sharjah Book Authority’s New Awards Honor Rights Professionals
Sheikh Zayed Book Award Expands Its Frankfurt Cultural Programming
‘Where Translators Can Come Together With Publishers’
The theme of the 74th Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 19 to 23), as you know, is Translate. Transfer. Transform. With the sold-out Literary Agents and Scouts Center, the LitAg, and its translation-rights trading action at the center of the world’s largest international book publishing industry trade show, translation is indeed pivotal to the business that this and other industry-facing fairs depend on.
Choosing “to put a spotlight on translating—and not just literary translations, but also translation as a communicative act,” as media messaging has it—Frankfurt is seating its translation focus in a new International Translation Center in Hall 4.0, specifically at G 101 and G114 (the stage), as the primary venues for the explication of the theme this year.
The project is organized in cooperation with VdÜ, an association of German-language translators, and the space itself measures 160 square meters with a stage for presentations and a networking space.
“This is where translators can come together with publishers, authors, scouts and agents,” organizers say, and partners in the effort include European literary organizations Czech Lit, ENLIT, FILI, Goethe-Institut, Litprom e.V., the Slovenian Book Agency, and Weltlesebühne e.V.
The stage at 4.0, G114, is to produce programming on all five days of the fair’s duration, and online, you’ll find information about this series of events in an International Translation Center section. There are sessions in German, in English, and in both.
Topics are expected to include the translation of comics, nonfiction, and books for children and young adults.
The fair’s current Guest of Honor Spain and the 2023 Guest of Honor Slovenia will be organizing events, as will former guests of honor Finland, the Republic of Georgia and Norway. The Czech Republic, France, Japan, the Philippines, Italy, and Greece will also be participating in the program.
An audience at Frankfurter Buchmesse, 2015. Image: FBM, Alexander Heimann
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.
Our opening session is at 10 a.m. on Frankfurt Wednesday, October 19, the first of our Executive Talk series, with Charlie Redmayne, the CEO of HarperCollins UK in conversation with Porter Anderson. Redmayne will be looking at the complex picture of a challenging season, as economic pressures mount amid strong, continuing consumer interest in books.
Attendance is free of charge at the Publishing Perspectives Forum 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 translation and translators is here, more on the translation rights trade is here, more on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, and more on international book fairs is here.
More from us on the still-ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.