After Hours at the FBF

After the Halls close for the night is when the serious work starts. This week in Frankfurt featured more than its share of blowout parties, impromptu gatherings, and late night soirees.

At the traditional buttoned-up affair thrown by Bertelsmann, Random House Chairman and CEO Markus Dohle made an made an impression by greeting guests with his enthusiastic handshaking. (When did receiving lines at corporate book parties become a trend?)

Cologne’s Dumont Verlag hosted agents and publishers on Friday night at the Mantis nightclub at what was promised to be a “roof-top party with dancing,” yet turned out to be a “second floor balcony party with standing around.” Everyone huddled in their coats around the gas fired heaters. One rather tall Swedish agent got so close to one I swear she nearly singed her hair. Someone speculated that the party was probably an effort by Dumont to spend some of the windfall they earned from Charlotte Roche’s half-million copy bestselling novel Feuchtgebiete (which translates as ‘wetlands’ and depicts a girl’s hospitalization after a botched job shaving her pubic hair). Roche, sadly, wasn’t present,

but at least the pretzels were good.

Last year’s Young Publishers party was notable for the single dancing girl who cleared the dance floor with her martial-arts moves (all done in high heeled boots). This year’s party, at multi-level warehouse on the edge of downtown, was most notable for the five euro cover charge, fifty cent deposit for beer bottles, and the feeling that a fire could have wiped out half the global publishing community under the age of 40. This was, above all, a smoker’s party – with people gleefully lighting up and thwarting Frankfurt’s recent policies banning indoor puffing. Chad and I made some new friends from Bloomsbury Germany, who upon leaving at 2 a.m. expressed genuinely surprise they had such a good time talking to a couple of Americans all night.

As Andrew mentioned below, there was the Exhibitor’s Night bash at the Congress Center celebrating the Book Fair’s 60th anniversary, described below. In addition to what Andrew has said, I can only add that if anyone is curious — the Turkish-German singer who performed is named Muhabbet; he was followed by the duo Friend ‘n Fellow and the ubiquitous DJ…somebody or other. Me, I hit the chill out room once the DJ started. The chill out room hosted a “Poetry Slam” at the time, which nearly sent me careening for the exit. It was much to my surprise, quite relaxing, especially compared to the torturous techno being played on the dance floor.

Indeed, one of strangest attractions at a party I’ve ever seen – the Human Teletubbies. No, I don’t mean the cartoon characters, but women wearing vests with a small computer screen embedded in them. I stopped on to ask what was playing on the screen and she told me it was a montage of images from the 60 years of the Fair (it resembled a powerpoint presentation). I asked the nearest Teletubbie if she found it awkward. She merely looked at me and shrugged.

“How German, I thought…” Of course, I’m not she understood a word I said.

Somehow, the final stop of the night always seems to be the Frankfurter Hoff. Aside from some confusion one night when I accidentally crashed a Droemer Knaur cocktail party where I was most definitely not welcome, there were usually some friendly faces in the crowd — including Richard “Dickie” Nash, Charlie Winton, and David Poindexter. (Next year, I’m told, I really must crash the Russian publishers party instead.)

On Saturday night, the always poised Anne-Solange Noble discussed a new edition of Marguerite Duras that is being published by Chad’s “Open Letter” press later this year. Around 2:30 a.m. Grove/Atlantic publisher Morgan Entriken displayed uncharacteristic restraint by turning down an invitation to his own Grove/Cannongate party early this Sunday morning.

“I’m old,” said Entriken, “and I’m going home.”

Posted in Book Fair, Parties