Viva Les Lecteurs!

For example, yesterday Margaret Atwood apparently read at the Fair… Or signed books… But what she did, and when, is unclear. I would have loved to attended that event - where was the publicity about it?

What is interesting is that Berlin has an international literary festival every September, and it is downright easy to find out who is reading and where. Information is published in German and the International press in Berlin (e.g. publications like “Ex-Berliner”), and the events are sold out with international crowds. I am certain that Berlin’s festival has no where near the staff nor budget that Frankfurt does, and yet they do a superb job of getting the word out. Frankfurt has the most important international book fair in the world, and yet who can say what authors are attending? What events are occuring? Ok, perhaps the trade members can. But not the public. It seems a shame that a real effort is not made to make this event as important for the international public as it is for the book industry.

As newcomers to the Fair, my wife and I were quite excited to see the offerings. Our son has begin reading in English, and we were excited to show him how many English-language publishers there are. Coming from the UK, we had long heard of this fair. However, we discovered something distressing: arrive on a Sunday, and by 13:00 (1:00pm) major publishers are packing up, at least in the International Publishers area.. We noticed Random House and Penguin Books no longer allowed visitors in by 1:00pm on Sunday; these were two of the largest publishers, and arguably main attractions. Since the Fair does not close until 5:30pm, we found this disappointing. They would not let us look. And so we had to explain to our son that despite the posted hours, things were already closing. Our son had a look like he had been told there is no Santa Claus.

Perhaps if major publishers such as Random House and Penquin are only putting in half-days on Sunday, admission tickets should be half-price. While we realize that the Frankfurt Book Fair is a trade-only event for five out of its seven days, and perhaps these major publishers are not so interested in “the little people.” But it seems a bit unfair that if one pays full admission, one can not access the materials of some of the largest international publishers.

Sadly, it seemed that this “early closing” was contagious. By 1:30pm, we noticed many smaller publishers in the International Publishers region were packing up also. I suppose they all have the right to set their own hours, and I suppose the crowds for these publishers is not as large for German publishers. But, really - if the Fair advertises that all areas are open to 5:30pm, shouldn’t they be? And, if not, why does the public pay full price. Our son commented, “Looks like we missed everything.”

A very disheartening experience.

Perhaps, I am too used to having things made easy for me back home, but I doubt even the Germans would complain if there were a stronger tradition of being helpful in this country.

Albeit i have to agree a bit on the navigating of the fair overall i sense there are slow and lack of basic hospitality of providing direction to the right hall.

Or is it just me, the zeee germans tend not to entertain or go the extra mile if any foreigner apart from the main mother speaking they would not entertain?