At Spazio Italia, the Italian collective stand, this year coming in with 147 exhibitors at Frankfurt and participation in several events, preparatory to the Guest of Honor Italy program at Frankfurter Buchmesse in 2024. Image: AIE
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
October 19: An Update on Italian Industry Statistics
Anote this morning from the Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE) in Milan tells us that “147 Italian exhibitors will be present at Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 19 to 23).
Spazio Italia, an Italian collective stand organized by the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in collaboration with the Associazione Italiana Editori (AIE), will host 76 publishers in Hall 4.1, F31 and H38.
The Italian pavilion is to be opened by Italy’s ambassador to Germany, Armando Varrichio, on October 19, Frankfurt’s opening day, at 10:15 a.m.
He’ll be joined, of course, by Ricardo Franco Levi, who has been appointed by Rome as its extraordinary commissioner for the 2024 guest of honor project. Levi is also president of the Italian publishers and vice-president of the Federation of European Publishers in Brussels.
Ricardo Franco Levi
Also on hand will be Roberto Luongo, the ITA’s general manager, and Paola Passarellli, who is the directorate general for libraries and copyright at Italy’s ministry of culture. The program of events for the 19th is being curated by the Italian Cultural Institutes network in Germany, and plenipotentiary minister Alessandro De Pedys, the deputy director general for public and cultural diplomacy, is to be present the envoy of the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation.
Note that as you’ll see below, the Italian publishers, AIE, will present the association’s 2021 industry report and market data from the first nine months of 2022. That press conference is to start at 11 a.m. on the 19th, again at Spazio Italia.
The program is presented with support from the European network of book fairs, Aldus Up, coordinated by the publishers’ association and co-financed by the European Commission under the Creative Europe program.
We’re pleased to note that the first listed event is a presentation of something many professionals in world publishing have been eager to see: a demonstration of the kind of market comparative reportage can be had with a common set of criteria, developed as the “EuRopean Item Core Set for Reading Surveys” by Aldus Up.
We’ll have a discussion of this as part of our reading panel at the International Publishers Association‘s (IPA) International Publishers Congress in Jakarta in mid-November, when Luis González, director general of the GSR Foundation, Aldus Up in Spain, travels to Indonesia to join us on a panel on the second day of the congress.
Publishing Perspectives will moderate that panel, and more information will be forthcoming shortly.
Frankfurt Events in Which Italy is Involved
At the Spazio Italia, the Italian collective stand. Image: AIE
All times in our listings are CEST.
Wednesday, October 19
- 10 a.m.: “A Cornerstone Toward Comprehensive Data on European Reading Habits”
Hall 4.1 D4: Guest of Honor Spain professional stage
Aldus Up presents the first comparative analysis of reading in three European countries, Italy, Spain, Norway according to the common ERICS methodology (EuRopean Item Core Set for Reading Surveys) developed by the Aldus expert working group to allow the comparison between data from various national surveys. For Italy, Cristina Mussinelli will speak. - 10:30 a.m.: “The Book Market in Europe 2021/2022: Main Data and Trends”
Hall 40, room Europa – Frankfurt Studio
For the first time at the Frankfurt Fair, the Federation of European Publishers publicly presents the results of the annual statistical survey on the European book market.
Registrations can be made at this address. - 11:00 a.m.: “Presentation of the Report on the State of Publishing in Italy 2022”
Spazio Italia
AIE presents the Report on the state of publishing in Italy and the various market data in the first nine months of 2022. - 2 p.m.: International Publishers Association Freedom to Publish Meeting
Room Conclusion 1, Congress Center C2
This is a meeting to inform publishers on IPA initiatives in defense of the freedom of publishing, on cases of censorship and repression involving publishers around the world, and to coordinate the action of IPA members in this area. Piero Attanasio and Giovanni Hoepli participate for AIE. - 3 p.m.: “Accessibility in Action: Three Challenges for the Publishing Industry”
Hall 40, room Europa – Frankfurt Studio
This is a seminar on the adoption of the “born accessible” principle applied to digital production in the light of the European Accessibility Act which will come into force in 2025. Publishing Perspectives is pleased to moderate this event, which will also feature Cristina Mussinelli, secretary general, LIA Foundation; Stacy Scott, accessibility manager, Taylor & Francis; and Mélissa Haquenne, product manager, Cantook Publishing. - 4 p.m.: An accessibility networking event is offered at which you can meeting international colleagues and experts on the issues.
Hall 4, Room Entente
The event is presented by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Germany’s publishers and booksellers association, the Fondazione Lia, and Frankfurter Buchmesse.
Thursday, October 20
- 9 a.m.: International Publishers Association Copyright Meeting
Room Conclusion 1, Congress Center C2
Piero Attanasio and Giovanni Hoepli participate from the Italian delegation. - 12:30 p.m.: Federation of European Publishers “Rendez-Vous”
Room Harmonie, Messe Frankfurt Congress Center
Organized by the Federation of European publishers for more than 30 years, this is an event in which representatives of European publishing associations meet their institutional interlocutors in Brussels and international players in the book sector. As Publishing Perspectives readers know, this year, at the joint invitation of FEP and Buchmesse, the meeting will host a recorded speech by Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. This is thought to be the first time the Ukrainian president has spoken to the world publishing community, although our readers will recall that the first lady, Olena Zelenska, spoke in August to a books-for-refugees event at the British Library.
His speech is to be followed by comments from the European commissioner for education, culture and research, Mariya Gabriel, AIE’s Levi, and, also from the Italian delegation, Fabio Del Giudice and Piero Attanasio.
Registration is required by writing to info@fep-fee.eu
- 7:30 p.m.: “Reading in the Dark” in German
Orangerie in Frankfurt’s Günthersburgpark
A “Reading in the dark” presentation (in German) has been organized by the LIA Foundation, Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, Frankfurter Buchmesse, Mediacampus Frankfurt, BSBH, and DZB Lesen. Writer Marie Gamillscheg and reader Sabine Lohner read excerpts from the book Aufruhr der Meerestiere, from the longlist of the German Book Prize.
Friday, October 21
- 9 a.m.: International Publishers Association Educational Publishers Forum, Open Meeting
Congress Center Level 2
This event is dedicated to developments in school publishing in the international arena, with a focus on both market aspects and policies affecting the sector.
Here’s a video on New Italian Books, the national rights-promotional site created in July 2020 by the Associazione Italiana Editori, AIE, under Levi’s direction, in association with
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. 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.
One of the 38 speakers we’ll welcome is Maddalena Fossombroni, CEO of Florence’s Todo Modo bookstore, which houses a communication agency specializing in e-commerce and company consultancy. In 2022 Todo Modo created the Italian Book Fair “Testo” for Pitti Immagine.
Hear her speak in the #PublishingPerspectivesForum at 12 p.m. on 20 October, in “The Cost of Doing Business.”
#PPForum has more information for you here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Italian market is here. Publishing Perspectives‘ Rights Roundups are here–this time with an entry from Giunti in Firenze, and more from us on international rights trading–the heart of Frankfurt Book Fair as the world’s largest international trade show in the book industry–is here. More on Frankfurter Buchmesse itself is here, more on this year’s Guest of Honor Spain is here, more on guest of honor programs and markets is here, and more on international book fairs is here.
Publishing Perspectives is the global media partner of the International Publishers Association.
More from us on the still ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.