With funding from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the Frankfurt Book Fair’s Invitation Programme for Exhibitors has been running for more than 30 years. The programme is organised by litprom, the Society for the Promotion of Literature from Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is intended for smaller publishing companies from developing book nations, giving them the opportunity to take part at the Frankfurt Book Fair with their own stand and to present their publishing programme to an international public. The interchange with other participants, setting up contacts and gaining experience, are also important aspects of the programme.

The 25 selected publishers spend ten days in Frankfurt, preparing for their attendance at the Book Fair by first attending a two-day workshop on topics such as rights & licences and marketing. During the five days of the Fair, the programme participants are based on their stands in the immediate vicinity of the International Centre in Hall 5.0.


Invitation Programme Participants 2008

After a degree from Wellesley College, USA, Nadine Touma settled in Lebanon. She worked as an artist, writer and human rights activist, finally combining these passions by founding the publishing house Dar Onboz in 2005. Dar Onboz specialises in illustrated and art books.

Why did you want to take part in the Frankfurt Book Fair’s Invitation Programme?

The Frankfurt Book Fair is a dream come true for many new young and independent publishers around the world. It is a great opportunity and a great door that leads to many windows. As a young and independent publishing house, our resources are usually limited, so the Invitation Programme is a wonderful opportunity because otherwise we wouldn't be able to attend the Fair.

Which other international book fairs are you familiar with?

We have already been to the book fairs in Paris and Montreuil and to the Children's Book Fair in Bologna.

What are your expectations in coming to Frankfurt and to the Frankfurt Book Fair? What are you looking forward to the most?

I am a dreamer so I do have a wish list:
• To make ourselves known and recognised as innovators and a creative power house in the Arab World.
• To meet other publishers and creative people in the publishing world and exchange ideas.
• To create bilingual co-editions with international publishers.
• To see what is happening in the rest of the world and discover what’s new.
• To sell rights.
• To create new distribution networks.
• To dream bigger dreams.
• To have fun.

How important to you is the exchange with other international publishers?

The exchange with other international publishers is very important for us because the area we have chosen to publish in - which is high quality and innovative art books for the young and old and illustrated books for the young and old and artist books - is an area that is quite a rarity in our part of the world. Meeting others, sharing ideas, comparing problem solving, and creating cultural bridges will help us break the silence we find ourselves in.

Born and brought up in Oaxaca, Mexico, Guillermo Quijas-Corzo López spent a year in Denmark whilst studying, before returning to Oaxaca. He has been director of the local book fair there since 2003. In April 2005, he set up his publishing company Editorial Almadía which specialises in young, contemporary Mexican literature.

Why did you want to take part in the Frankfurt Book Fair’s Invitation Programme?

We started our business in 2005 and we are still only a small publisher - but our list includes some of the most important contemporary Mexican writers. We need support to come to the Frankfurt Book Fair otherwise we wouldn't be able to go.

Which other international book fairs are you familiar with?

We have already been to the book fairs in Guadalajara, Buenos Aires, Monterrey and Colombia. Next year, we will attend the book fair in Paris.

What are your expectations in coming to Frankfurt and to the Frankfurt Book Fair? What are you looking forward to the most?

We want to get in contact with as many editors as possible to establish connections that will help us to publish interesting voices from other latitudes. Furthermore, we want to introduce our own writers and make them known in different countries - either by selling them to other Hispanic language countries through our own distribution network or through a relationship with another publisher or distributor. We also want to introduce other projects: every year we organise a meeting of international writers in our bookstore (www.vivelalectura.com.mx) and we also organise the local book fair in Oaxaca. More than 50 writers attend each event and we get a lot of visitors and make good sales.

How important to you is the exchange with other international publishers?

The exchange is very important for us. We are very much looking forward to meeting other publishers and we are excited about presenting our complete publishing programme, our writers and our projects to an international audience.

Dorothea Rosa Herliany is a poet and has written about twenty books and has received several awards. She is also one of the directors of the publishing house Indonesia Tera. Indonesia Tera was established in 1998 and since then has published more than 200 titles. It is a small company with a broad international outreach. Since 2007, Indonesia Tera has focused on children's books.

Why did you want to take part in the Frankfurt Book Fair’s Invitation Programme?

In 2003, I took part in the Invitation Programme for the first time. It was a great experience! I learned a lot and built up a good network, too. In my country, networking is very difficult, particularly where books and literature are concerned. In the Programme, there were several publishers who worked in the same field as we did then, so we talked about our different markets, our problems and difficulties. That was very helpful.

In 2006, however, the main programme of our publishing house changed. Our focus used to be on literature, theatre, philosophy and gender issues. Since 2007, it has been on children's books. This focus is new to all of us and we do not have experience in this field. We therefore need to study and learn many things from many sources and places. That is why I applied again last year to take part in the Invitation Programme.

Which other international book fairs are you familiar with?

I do not have any experience of other book fairs apart from Frankfurt. I know that there are a lot of international book fairs that might be interesting for us, like Bologna or London or Singapore, but I have never been to any of them.

What are your expectations in coming to Frankfurt and to the Frankfurt Book Fair? What are you looking forward to the most?

I hope that I can learn more about children's books in Frankfurt. I also wish to build a good network and maybe get to know institutions that might be able to help me learn more about children's books or even meet with organisers of other book fairs that would be interesting for me to visit.

In my country, there are indeed a lot of books for children. But most of them are translations and school books. I think we should have more interesting and high-quality books for children in Indonesia, because our children are the most important generation and they determine what kind of a nation we will be in the future. We should therefore make sure that they have good books to read. In Frankfurt, I hope to get a good overview of the different children's books on offer, in order to learn what a really good children's book is and what needs to be published in my country. I need to get a good perspective for that.

How important to you is the exchange with other international publishers?

I think the exchange with other international publishers will be very interesting. We will have the opportunity to see how other publishers run their businesses and learn about their programmes and plans for the future. This will help us to bring our thinking up to date.