Culture and literature lovers, digital pioneers and creative minds, the entire publishing world, fair guests as well as Frankfurt locals are all warmly welcome at all of the events,” said Markus Gogolin, director, strategic marketing at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, summing up the concept. “With Bookfest, our aim for the coming years is to provide a stage – beyond the exhibition grounds – for publishers, authors and exciting networks in the industry,” Lars Birken-Bertsch, director, business development, added.

This year, the official opening of the festival took place on 10 October in the Bookfest Bistro. Author Edouard Louis presented his manifesto for a new kind of literature. Writer Julia Encke hosted the evening and Heinrich Schmidt-Henkel translated and read out the text. On Wednesday, Sonja Heiss will read from her novel Rimini; FAS-writer Julia Dettke will moderate the discussion. On Thursday, Bistro visitors will celebrate 50 years of Trikont – the history of Germany’s oldest independent record label – with Franz Dobler, Christof Meueler and Markus Naegele.

Like last year, in 2017 the Bookfest Lounge will once again be the meeting point for the industry’s next generation, design lovers and digital creatives – a place where they can meet to talk and celebrate together over drinks. Every evening features a different publishing network. Wednesday starts with Pub’n’Pub (#pubnpub), the popular meet-up series held in different German and international locations. On the Thursday of the fair, “Byte The Book” will bring together a community of publishers from around the world. And, on Friday night, just like last year, magazine makers around Indiecon will provide the entertainment – both in terms of content and music.