Edward Nawotka has been on staff at Publishers Weekly since 2000, first serving as editor of PW Daily and currently as a reporter covering the southern United States. Ed is also an internationally syndicated columnist for Bloomberg News, writing about books and publishing, as well as a widely published book critic. He holds a B.A. from Boston College, an M.F.A. from Columbia University and an M.A. from University College Dublin.

Yes, it may be the last thing publisher want to think about at a book fair known for rights deals: Remainders are one of the fastest growing segments of the book business. As publishers put more and more titles into smaller and smaller bookstores, the remainder market represents the last real chance for a book to reach a reader before it gets pulped or tossed into a landfill.

It is, perhaps, the saddest fate for a book I know…

James Crates is the sales manager of Texas Bookman, an American remainder book dealer based in Dallas and is a subsidiary of the bookstore chain Half-Price Books. Coates says his company returned to Frankfurt for the first time last year after a 15 year hiatus.

“We decided to come again because our European busienss is growing,” said Coates, “and lots of Asian buyers will only go to the Frankfurt Book Fair and not any of the remainder shows.”

The remainder business in Europe is growing, he says, in particular in countries like England, Germany and France. It may come as a surprise to learn Coates biggest European customer is not in a native English speaking country.

“It’s De Slegte, in Holland. They’ve bought the booth, so they get what I don’t sell here piecemeal today.”

Coates was still manning his booth late on Sunday afternoon even as the riiiiiip-riiiiiiip of packing tape could be heard echoing throughout Hall 8, as vendors boxed up their booths around him.

“I’ve been here in this booth all week and haven’t even left Hall 8″  said Coates, who still managed to look somewhat rested after five days on his feet. He won’t get a break either. Coates, whose suitcases were ready and waiting in a corner of the booth, is flying directly from Frankfurt to Chicago, where he’ll work the CIROBE (The Chicago International Remainder and Overstock Exhibition) which starts next Friday.

Coates personally he attends about a half dozen trade shows a year — including BookExpoAmerica and the London Book Fair — and and occassionally sends assistants to cover smaller shows. He’s already planning ahead for FBF 2009.

“Business has been been good, so maybe,” he says, “I can bring someone to help in the booth and that will give me a little time to explore.”

Since Wednesday, my friend Garth Stein and I had been trying to connect. He was in Frankfurt to launch his novel “The Art of Racing in the Rain” with his German publisher Droemer. Neither of us had turned on our phones for fear of running up enormous bills on our AT&T data services – mine ran to more than $800 last year (which was criminal) – so there was no way to connect, save for occasional emails sent at inconvenient hours. He suggested I crash a Droemer party at the Frankfurter Hof – and I did, on the wrong night (see below). He sent suggested I drop by the Droemer booth in Hall 3 – I went looking for more than an hour, and got lost like Hansel in the forest – only to discover the Droemer booth was in Hall 4. Finally, last night, we managed to meet…

And this is why we come to Frankfurt: Garth’s novel has been a huge success in the US, where it hit a number of bestseller lists and was picked up for sale by Starbucks. It had already been bought by publishers in 25 markets for translation into a total of 19 languages, with two more deals made here in Frankfurt still pending. So, when I ask Garth where’s left, he tells me, “Man…what I really want is to be published in India. I really think they’d get my book.” And, as if by pure chance, standing next to us at the party is Akshay Pathak of the German Book Office in New Delhi.

Garth’s novel might just resonate with Indian readers, a huge potential market. The story, as Stein tells it, concerns a race car driver and his dog Enzo, who though dying, studies human behavior in the belief that he will be reincarnated as a human himself.

Pathak, who isn’t the type to give people false hope, considered Stein’s pitch and handed over a card, with the words: “Let’s see if we can’t find you an Indian publisher…!”

A few moments later, Stein is chatting up Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, director of the Kalima translation project in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He too appeared interested.

Stein looked around and said aloud, “I’m beginning to feel like I should have to pay commission to someone.” (That, no doubt, will something his sub-agent will be interested in hearing.)

So there you have it: A bit of Frankfurt luck. All the planning in the world wouldn’t have predicted such fortuitious serendipity.

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.”

Shahla Lahiji, chief director of Roshangaran Publishing in Tehran, Iran is one of the most highly honored publishers in her field. The first woman publisher in Iran, she is the publisher of Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize 2003) and an outspoken human rights advocate.

Lahiji has been coming to Frankfurt on and off for decades. She came to the world’s attention in 2000, after she was arrested for after returning to Iran from Berlin, where she participated in an academic conference sponsored by the Heinrich Boll Institute that was critical of the then government. After spending two months in jail, she was released on parole.

Lahiji’ has won both the 2001 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the first IPA Freedom Prize. I asked caught up with here on the show floor to get an update on what the publishing environment is like for her today.

“Things have gotten 1000 times worse under the current regime in the last year,” said Lahiji. ‘We had 40 of my books banned between 2007 and 2008, meaning I was only able to publish about 15 titles. There doesn’t seem to be any logic to it.”

Nevertheless, she remains undaunted in her mission to create a “dialogue through books.”

One project Lahiji has in the works was to publish an edition of John Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil

Government – one of the documents in which the philosopher outlined the framework for a liberal, democratic society. Lahiji intends to bind a copy of the United States Constitution into the back of the book as an example of Locke’s treatise at work.

“I won’t be doing it in this edition,” she said, “but maybe the next.”

Asked if she ever has any trouble traveling to the Frankfurt Book Fair for her work, Lahiji cracks a joke: “No. Sometimes I think they are hoping I don’t go back.”

Simpson’s artist Bill Morrison was a star attraction today at the Comics Centre of the FBF. (See a video of an interview with Morrison here) During a Q&A session, he answered the fans most vexing questions about the show and the comics, starting with the most important:

“Where is Springfield.”

His answer: A lot of people think Springfield is in Oregon where Matt Groening is from. But the real answer is Springfield everywhere, except probably Japan. A couple years ago there was a contest in the United States to find the “real” Springfield where the movie premier would be and Springfield, Vermont won.

Q: Why does the city of Springfield keep changing? Sometime there’s a building here, or something different there?

A: It may sound strange to say it, but Springfield is a lot like Batman’s utility belt. Whatever you need for an episode has to be there. We never sacrifice comedy for continuity, so people sometimes act like it’s a soap opera and get upset when it’s not what they expect.

Q: What is your favorite Simpson’s character?”

A: Homer, though he said that Comic Book Guy was becoming his favorite.

Q: When will Maggie say another word?

A: She’s already said two words. Her first was “Daddy,” then there was “sequel” at the end of the movie. There have been episodes in which you see the Simpson’s in the future and Maggie is there an always on the phone. Whenever she’s about to speak, she gets interrupted. I don’t think that’s a joke they want to ruin, so I would have to say probably never.

Q: Will the Simpson’s ever grow older?

A: Only in those episodes where you see them in the future.

Q: Will there be a sequel to the movie? Or perhaps a live action version, such as one that would have Brad Pitt starring as Bart Simpson.

A: Knowing the movie studio’s love of money, I would say yes, but only after they have a good script are they likely to announce it. I think a live action movie would be great. There was a version of the opening sequence filmed in the UK using real people. It was great. They used it once on the actual show.

Contrary to some reports I’ve read that the there was less “buzz” at this year’s FBF, I’ve come away with aquite different impression: Nearly everyone I’ve spoken to has been very busy. A large contingent of execs have even remained in Frankfurt an extra day or two to continue taking meetings, well beyond their traditional Saturday exodus (hoping to avoid the public, one presumes).

Among those still working hard this Saturday morning was Colin Finlay, director of strategic development for UK photo agency Photoshot (Hall 8).

He was more than enthusiastic about FBF 08: “This is the best show we’ve ever had,” he said. “The first morning alone we had three high level new customers – something that hasn’t happened before.”

Photoshot, which provides stock photography for books, magazines and the Web, has been doing steady Fair trade with publishers from all the major European countries. “We’re also particularly happy with our contacts with customers from publishers in the New Europe and Russia,” he said.

And despite the general gloomy outlook for the economy, he perceives no slowdown. “Publishers have budgets and are buying.”

He also provided an impressive dollar amount of revenue generated here at the FBF, but asked I don’t disclose it.

Finlay’s only complaint about this year’s show: The continuing security checks going into Hall 8.

“It made sense after 9/11, but it’s not really necessary now,” he said, “It’s not even all that secure – just someone going through your bag. They should do it probably with airport style X-ray machines or not at all.”

Acclaimed Nigerian-American writer Uzodinma Iweala (Uzo, for short) arrived in Frankfurt to offer an afternoon reading from his novel “Beasts of No Nation” – the harrowing story of a child soldier fighting in an unnamed West African country. I caught up with Iweala to ask him a few questions about the international reaction to his book and his response to critics:

FBF: What has the international audience reacted to your book now that it’s appeared in more countries? Is it different than the initial reaction in America?

UI: I’ve been lucky, in that people have reacted to the book very positively. I think that the reason is the topic is one that people have exposure to through the news, but don’t get an in-depth exposure. A novel is a different way of looking at a topic than a news article.

I’ve also been unlucky in the sense that people question whether or not I have a right to have write the book. I think it’s a fair question: Why do you think you can write about child soldiers? My answer is “what gives you the right to say anything.” What has been tough is people calling me an opportunist without understanding my background. People ask me, ‘Why aren’t you a child soldier? Why are you wearing a sweater and jeans?’

FBF: Does that have largely to do with race? White writers have written about Africa without being similarly criticized.

UI: I think you’re on to something. If you’re a good writer, then write about what you want. Take Philip Gourevitch [editor of The Paris Review and author of We Wish To Inform You Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families] he’s a Jewish guy writing about the Rwandan massacre. It’s all about empathy, that’s why you write books.

There is this thing where you are expected to speak for Africa if you’re an African writer. I think that’s where the criticism comes into this. People are looking for the authentic African author – one who is unspoiled and un-Westernized. I don’t think that exists.

The Society of Young Publishers in the UK is getting serious about trying to create cross-cultural connections. Plans are afoot try and organize a new Web portal for young publishing professionals across the globe.

“We think that young people in publishing – whether they are just starting out or have years in the business– can benefit from networking across borders,” said SYP chair Jon Slack. “Initially, we’ll link the English speaking countries, but there’s no reason we can’t go international very quickly. Ultimately, we hope it can lead to such things as mentoring, internships and job swaps.”

The SYP is an all volunteer organization and needs your help. Anyone interested in participating in or assisting with the as yet unnamed project, should get in touch with Jon Slack directly. He can be reached via email at jslack at thesyp dot org dot uk

Okay, using that as the title of this blog post may seem a bit, well, ambitious. But it was the rather grand title of the panel I had the privilege of moderating this morning at the Translator’s Centre.

The subject at hand was to get an update on a trio of projects busy translating books into Arabic: Two from the United Arab Emirates –“Kalima” based in Abu Dhabi and “Tarjem” based in Dubai – and the National Center for Translation in Cairo, Egypt. Each ambitious in their own way. Mr. Mark Linz, Director of the American University Press of Cairo, offered the POV of a publisher translating from the Arabic into other languages.

Of the panelists, Ali al Shaali of the Tarjem project, articulated the mission of translation best when he described it as a bridge, one that “takes you into the writer’s mind, into their dreams”.

Of the three projects, Tarjem is the most ambitious: it strives to translate a book a day. Started in May 2007 and thus far has contracts with 25 or 26 publishers. Some of the titles that have already been translated by the project include Jack Welch’s “Straight from the Gut,” “China Inc.” Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Freakanomics.” Al Shaali later made the point that such speedy translation was possible, at least in part, because business titles didn’t require as “delicate” a translation as, say, fiction might.

Kalima is planning to produce 100 titles per year, though it has had a slow start thus far. Its first list of 100 titles was announced last year and only a handful has made it to print, including Alan Greenspan’s “The Age of Reason” and Haruki Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore.” Program director Dr. Ali Bin Tamim – a scholar of Naguib Mahfouz and a professor of literature at Al Ain, who took over leadership of the program this month, emphasized that they don’t want to rush, but want to do things right. “

Linz concurred, adding that he agreed the best way to create cross-cultural understanding was through books, “literature especially.” Coming into the panel with nearly two decades of experience, LInz was the most experienced of the group. Asked to comment on the other three projects, he suggested that they might be too ambitious.

“It’s difficult enough books in your own language, let alone in a translation,” he said. “You have to create an audience first,” he said. Linz did point out that there are books out there that can find a large audience in translated editions – like Alaa Al Aswany’s “The Yacoubian Building” which has sold more than a million copies across 20 languages – but that is the exception, rather than the rule.

The fragmentary distribution system throughout the Gulf States remains the greatest challenge to publishers reaching a wide readership. Hani Tolba, marketing director of The National Translation Center of Cairo, said that the organization is soon opening its own bookstore, which will provide a direct sales outlet for the 1250 titles (from 27 different languages) they have published after nearly ten years of work. At present, books are distributed primarily through mail order and book fairs, though the NTC will be launching a new Web site next month.

The goal is to bring the total number of titles in print to 2000 within a few years, in part with the assistance of Kalima, with whom the organization plans to collaborate.

Of course, sitting as moderator for a panel means that sometimes you miss things as you try to referee– so, tell me if you were you there, and let me hear what you thought? Who among these panelists do you think is most likely to achieve their goals? What is missing? What do you like best about their plans? What book would you most recommend for them to publish and why?

One of my favorite accoutrement I use to navigate the Frankfurt Book Fair is the Moleskine notebook printed just for the Fair. They’re just the right size for a pocket and leave plenty of room for appointments. (Of course, they are only really useful if you buy them in advance of the Fair or on the first day).

Next year, I plan to supplement this with the new Frankfurt am Main Moleskine Citybook, printed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the FBF. Like other editions that are already available for cities such as Paris, Berlin and New York, the book contains a good street map and sections divided for noting your itinerary, hotel information, entertainment options and your likes and dislikes. It should prove very handy if you come to Frankfurt year after year, but can’t quite remember the name and address of your favorite new drinking spot.

Bravo Moleskine, thanks for helping to make Frankfurt marginally more hip.