After a three-year Corona break, the Leipzig Book Fair is back. The spring meeting of the book industry will be opened today (7:00 p.m.) with a ceremony in the Gewandhaus. The Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding, worth 20,000 euros, is awarded to the Russian poet Maria Stepanova.
Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth emphasized the importance of the book fair. “It is one of the largest and most important in all of Europe. It is the book fair that builds a bridge to Central and Eastern Europe. This is also of central importance in times of tension, in times of war in Ukraine,” said the Green politician of the German Press Agency. It is precisely here that it is important that the Russian-Jewish writer Maria Stepanova receives the book prize. Stepanova currently lives in exile in Germany.
The trade fair and the associated festival “Leipzig Reads” open their doors to the public from Thursday to Sunday. According to the trade fair, around 2000 exhibitors from 40 countries will be presenting their book-related innovations. In the pre-crisis year of 2019, there were around 2,500 exhibitors. “Leipzig Reads” features around 2,400 events on 300 stages. Austria is presenting itself as the guest country at the Book Fair.
Literature is “a voice of democracy”
Roth emphasized the broad impact. The Leipzig Book Fair is not a closed circle of experts. Leipzig is “a decentralized reading festival,” she said. “Such a fair is a celebration of democracy because literature is a voice of democracy.”
In times of great uncertainty caused by war, crises and conflicts, culture has a very special role. “Especially now, such fairs are also places to protect, preserve and expand culture and to strengthen its social significance, even for publishers from countries where there is no democracy, no freedom, no freedom of expression, no freedom of art.”
In 2020, Leipzig was one of the first major trade fairs to be canceled due to the corona pandemic. It could not take place in 2021 and 2022 either. The federal government is now supporting the book fair with three million euros. “The grant should guarantee that the book fair can take place again,” said Roth.
This also has to do with other goals. Leipzig is the place for small publishers. “The stand fees at the trade fairs are very high. That’s why this sum, which we have made available, can also help to reduce the stand fees.” Small, innovative publishers in particular benefit from this. The funds will also help that the book fair can expand digital offerings.
Young audience in the center
It is also important to focus on young audiences with new event formats. “If the youngsters are enthusiastic about it, then that’s also a service to the future, because then they’ll stick with it.” One example is the Manga Comic Con, “one of the biggest meeting places for the manga and comic scene in Germany,” said Roth. “It’s also a form of literature, of what is written, painted, drawn.” She is pleased that the scholarships from the literature fund now also include representatives of this cultural form.
Roth did not want to promise long-term financial aid. “In view of an extremely tight budget situation, I can’t say now whether this will be permanent support.” This was an impetus. “If the book fair is successful, it doesn’t need this support either.”
It is important that the trade fair is always open to new formats. “There will be forums about an open society, democracy, discrimination, attacks on our democracy and enemies of democracy, which not only exist in Iran or in other countries around the world, but also here,” said Roth. “In this respect, it is also important to talk about democracy and an open society in Saxony.”
Roth gets little to read himself. The highlight of the past few weeks was “Hund, Wolf, Jackal” by Behzad Karim Khani, for example because of the fascinating language. She also enjoys reading biographies. “I also set out to get to know more writers who were very important in the GDR,” said Roth. “Honestly, there are many blind spots, including me.”
