Frankfurt Book Fair opens

The first full-scale Frankfurt Book Fair in three years has opened.

The Bookseller reported rights-traders have noted ‘an appetite for literary works’ and a ‘later’ Frankfurt season, with ‘more pre-empts than usual and deals not closing until days before the fair’.

HarperFiction editorial director Martha Ashby told the Bookseller there was ‘a huge number of brilliant literary submissions and significantly less on the commercial side; for us commercial editors, we’ve all felt it’s been quieter than we expected.’

On the timing of deals, literary scout Daniela Schlingmann said: ‘We have never seen so many submissions before a fair … There are more last-minute submissions than in the past, and we are hearing that feels intense for some of those who acquire for a broad portfolio.’

Publishers Weekly (PW) reported on a ‘flurry of seven-figure deals’ to open the fair, citing deals for authors Marcela Fuentes, Nicole Dennis-Benn and Vivian Tu. PW also wrote of the effect current affairs are having on the fair, including the favourable exchange rate for US participants, a ‘sense of thrift in the city’ and economic trepidation over Germany’s energy supply due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the absence of the majority of agents, editors and publishers from Asia.

Category: International news