KULTURA / CULTURE
Tokom Sajma knjiga bar hotela „Frankfurter Hof“ postaje najpoznatije mesto na svetu za sklapanje milionskih izdavačkih ugovora / During the Book Fair, the bar at the Frankfurter Hof hotel becomes the most famous place in the world for striking multi-million publishing deals
BELGRADE Under the dome of a wonder of architecture The International Belgrade Book Fair, which is traditionally held in the last week of October, is more than a cultural mani- festation. Its history in the Serbian capital officially dates back to 1957, when the na- tional book fair was transferred from Za- greb, and it has been growing continuously ever since. At the very centre of this event is Hall 1 of the Belgrade Fair. Before even checking out the books, it’s worth looking up at the ceiling. This humungous circular hall, designed by engineer Branko Žeželj, represents a global masterpiece of brutal- ist architecture. Its dome is made of pre- stressed concrete spanning 109 metres, and at the time of construction it was the world’s largest dome of its kind. Every au- tumn, under that impressive vaulted ceil- ing, a specific, slightly chaotic Belgrade spec- tacle takes place: mingling there are lines of primary school pupils on school trips, pensioners on the hunt for historical en- cyclopaedias, academics and leading writ- ers of the region who spend hours signing copies of their works. Here the National Guest of Honour con- cept is taken very seriously. Each year sees one country given a central exhibition space in Hall 1 to present its literature, transla- tions and culture. This isn’t just a formali- ty, but an opportunity for serious cultural diplomacy. Delegations bring their most translated authors, panel discussions are
held on contemporary European and world thought, and publishers compete to trans- late the most works from the language of the honoured country in the build-up to the opening of the fair. FRANKFURT Literary Wall Street If Belgrade is a holiday for readers, Frankfurt is a harsh yet fascinating ma- chine for professionals. The Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse) is held in mid-October and represents the planet’s largest and most important literary trade fair. It has an incredibly long tradition, hav- ing been established only shortly after Jo- hannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the nearby city of Mainz back in the 15 th century. Frankfurt was for centuries a place where local booksellers exchanged manuscripts, while today it is a business giant sprawling over a huge trade fair com- plex that’s so large that attendees use in- ternal buses to move between the halls. There’s one crucial catch here. In Frank- furt, individual copies of books are (mostly) not bought. Lay visitors are only granted access on the last two days of the weekend. The first three days are strictly reserved for the “trade”: businesspeople, publishers, lit- erary agents and Hollywood scouts. Here it isn’t paper that’s traded, but copyright. Publishers from over 100 countries sit at small tables in halls filled with murmuring chatter and sell and buy translation rights, negotiate film adaptations and agree on
multimillion-dollar contracts at meetings lasting exactly 30 minutes. Nobel laureates, actors and secret deals Frankfurt in October is awash with VIPs, though in a completely different for- mat compared to film festivals. Here you will encounter current Nobel laureates and leading world philosophers, but also Hol- lywood actors, politicians and musicians who come to promote their memoirs to global publishers. The National Guest of Honour (which this year is the Czech Re- public) has an entire floor of the pavilion to itself, where its cultural heritage is pre- sented in spectacular architectural design. However, the real magic of the Frank- furter Buchmasse doesn’t happen at the fair itself, but after the gates close at 6pm. It is then that the publishing elite relo- cates to luxury hotels and the lobby of the legendary Frankfurter Hof hotel becomes the epicentre of power. The most lucrative contracts are negotiated in its bars, while sipping expensive cocktails and smoking cigars, until the early hours of the morn- ing. There, far from the public eye, liter- ary agents offer the manuscripts of new star authors under the format of secret auctions. That’s why the Frankfurt event is much more than a trade fair – it’s the place where decisions are made today on what the whole world will be reading and watching on streaming platforms over the next three years.
Sajam knjiga u Frankfurtu održava se od 7. do 11. oktobra, a u Beogradu od 23. do 31. oktobra The Frankfurt Book Fair takes place from 7 th to 11 th October, and the Belgrade Book Fair from 23 rd to 31 st October
46 | Knjige » Books
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