October 20th, 2009

The GuestRoll – the Guest of Honour baton passes hands at the Book Fair

The GuestRoll has a wooden core, which represents the Book Fair. Around the core, new rings are added every year - each ring containing a literary text from the next country up to be Guest of Honour.

This time, the texts printed on the plexiglas in small letters were by the Argentine writers José Hernández and Jorge Luis Borges. The GuestRoll is something like a baton in a relay race, which is passed on from year to year - from one Guest of Honour to the next.

On Sunday at 3.30 p.m., you could really feel the emotional weight of this act in the Forum, as China handed over its role to Argentina.

At the handover, Juergen Boos said “Literature must reflect society, even if it hurts”. Over the last few months, and particularly over the last five Fair days, we “were marching side by side with Beijing and discovered the people behind the books”.

China’s literature - often characterised by brutal realism - has now opened itself a little more to an audience of international readers.

GuestRoll handover from China to 2010 Guest of Honour Argentina: Wu Shulin passes on the GuestRoll to Magdalena Faillace

Zhang Fuhai, Director of the Chinese Organisation Committee, expressed what being in Frankfurt has meant to his country: “China has experienced a highly diverse, colourful and absolutely satisfying Fair”. Then he thanked the Germans for so warmly welcoming them.

Magdalena Faillace, Director of the Argentine Organisation Committee, said: “We have been preparing for this moment for quite some time. I hope we will be able to live up to the role - it is a great responsibility and a great honour”.

Just before the handover, Chinese writer Wang Meng and Argentine author Osvaldo Beyer read brief excerpts from their works - each in the original language.