Soon there will be a lot of reading in Frankfurt again: From 10 to 14 October, everything will revolve around the subject of books at the exhibition grounds. For ten years now, the OPEN BOOKS reading festival has accompanied the Book Fair. In its anniversary year, the event will once again feature a varied cultural programme centred around the guest of honour, Georgia, with 138 readings and 180 authors. OPEN BOOKS will take place this year from 9 . - 13 October. In addition to numerous events for adults, the range of events for young book fans has also been expanded in 2018. 16 readings will take place during the book fair weekend in the Junge Museum at Römerberg.
Director of Culture Ina Hartwig is proud that this event concept has proven its worth: "10 years of OPEN BOOKS - what started in 2009 at the Frankfurter Kunstverein has now developed into a real crowd-puller, not only for reading enthusiasts. With top-class readings, book presentations and literature discussions, the municipal reading festival succeeds year after year in bringing the world of books to life in an inspiring way - since the premiere of OPEN BOOKS KIDS last year, even across all age groups", praises the head of culture.
About 80 publishing houses from Germany, Austria and Switzerland take the opportunity to present the novelties of their autumn programme at OPEN BOOKS. In addition to events on German-language fiction, new non-fiction and graphic novels, there will be readings by international authors with a special focus on this year's guest country, Georgia. At the opening of OPEN BOOKS 2018, Christian Berkel, Max Czollek, Nino Haratischwili and the winner of the German Book Prize, who was announced the day before, will present their latest books at the German National Library in collaboration with the Blue Sofa. The reading festival will conclude with a big party in the good tradition of the Literaturhaus Frankfurt.
OPEN BOOKS director Sonja Vandenrath points to the great popularity of OPEN BOOKS: "The greatest event of OPEN BOOKS is the audience. Since 2009, it has been giving us its favour in large numbers. It is curious, open and highly concentrated. The audience is enthusiastic about the offer to get to know the most important books of the autumn in compact form over four days and to experience authors in person. Frankfurt has been waiting for a reading festival like OPEN BOOKS. For publishers, on the other hand, the city's reading festival has become Frankfurt's shop window for the autumn season."
At Literatur im Römer in the Römerhallen, the focus is on the most important German-language novels of the autumn. On each of the fair's Wednesdays and Thursdays, eight authors will present their latest works in brief conversations with moderators Insa Wilke, Gerwig Epkes, Cécile Schortmann and Alf Mentzer. On Wednesday, October 10, Artur Becker, Karen Duve, Dörte Hansen, Michael Kumpfmüller, Inger-Maria Mahlke, Steffen Mensching, Jan Wagner and Meike Wetzel will read. On Thursday, October 11, María Cecilia Barbetta, Wolf Haas, Alexa Hennig von Lange, Ursula Krechel, Anke Stelling, Stephan Thome, Timur Vermes and Andreas Martin Widmann will be guests.
Georgia is the Guest of Honour at the Book Fair this year and will be accompanied by a rich supporting programme. "We are very pleased to be able to present and showcase our Georgian literature and culture in the city of Frankfurt. The numerous genres of our newly translated books in German, as well as the wonderful art from different eras, show how colorful and diverse our country and our ‚georgian characters' are," said Maia Danelia, director of the literary program of "Georgia - Made by Characters".
The entire supporting programme is available in the Frankfurt Book Fair calendar of events at <link http: www.buchmesse.de kalender _blank>Http://www.buchmesse.de/kalender
