Stepanova received the book prize for her volume of poetry “Girls without clothes”. She currently lives in exile in Germany. The book prize for European understanding, endowed with 20,000 euros, has been awarded since 1994.
The trade fair, which with around 300,000 visitors is the most important spring meeting place for the book and media industry, opens its doors to visitors and trade visitors on Thursday. On this day, the Leipzig Book Fair Prize is awarded in the categories of fiction, non-fiction/essay writing and translation.
Until Sunday, the Book Fair and the parallel Manga Comic Con and the traditional Leipzig Reads Reading Festival offer thousands of events. The fair was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, and last year it was canceled at short notice due to the cancellation of many exhibitors.
With new formats, the trade fair wants to focus primarily on spontaneous encounters. In a book bar, visitors can meet authors for a coffee and take part in moderated discussions, the organizers said. The Open Society Forum therefore offers discussions on democracy, discrimination, diversity and integration.
“For me, the magic of the Book Fair also lies in the happy coincidence, these spontaneous small and large encounters that ensure wonderful conversations, moments and surprises,” explained Oliver Zille, Director of the Leipzig Book Fair. “The Leipzig Book Fair was missed – by the industry and our audience,” explained Martin Buhl-Wagner, Managing Director of the Leipzig Fair.
According to the German Book Trade Association on Wednesday, the book industry closed the first quarter of 2023 with a 6.7 percent increase in sales compared to the same period last year. However, the number of books sold fell by six percent in the first quarter compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic. Publishers and the book trade are burdened by the after-effects of the pandemic and the ongoing cost pressure, explained Peter Kraus vom Cleff, general manager of the stock exchange association.
