Stars from literature and entertainment come to the book fair

This year, the Leipzig Book Fair is expecting renowned authors as well as stars from the entertainment industry. Among others, Marc-Uwe Kling, Ingrid Noll and Arne Dahl will be coming to Leipzig, Book Fair Director Astrid Böhmisch announced on Thursday.

Actors Jörg Hartmann, Katja Riemann and Uschi Glas will also be presenting books during the fair and the accompanying "Leipzig liest" festival. The book fair will be held from March 21 to 24. The Netherlands and Flanders will be presenting themselves as guest countries.

Exhibitor numbers at last year's level

According to Director Böhmisch, the popularity of exhibitors is unbroken. All major publishers are represented. Capacity utilization is more than satisfactory, she said.

Registrations were slightly above the previous year's level. In 2023, 2082 exhibitors from 40 countries had presented themselves in Leipzig. Prior to that, the book fair had been canceled three times in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Book fair in the midst of the coronavirus crisis

In view of the many social and political crises around the world, Böhmisch said that this year's book fair wanted to be a place for exchange and opinion-forming in particular. Numerous podium discussions and panels would offer opportunities for this.

A sign of support would also be sent to Ukraine with readings. The planning for this program is still underway, Böhmisch said.

Two anniversaries will be celebrated

In addition, two anniversaries will mark this year's fair. The Leipzig Book Fair Prize, one of the most important literary prizes in Germany, will be awarded for the 20th time. The nominees will be announced on February 29.

In addition, the manga and comic fair Manga-Comic-Con will be ten years old. The area is growing strongly, said project manager Kerstin Krämer. This year, the offerings for the young target group - manga, comics, fantasy, youth literature - will occupy two of the five exhibition halls.

"Everything but flat" - Netherlands and Flanders as guest country

The guest country appearance of the Netherlands and Flanders is under the motto "Everything but flat". "We are geographically flat, but socially, culturally and politically we are anything but flat," said program coordinator Margot Dijkgraaf.

There is hardly a contemporary topic that is not addressed in the literature of the Netherlands and Flanders. The host country is planning around 100 events with 41 authors.