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Frankfurt Book Fair: A stepping stone for the Indonesian publishing world
A visitor at the Freedom Instituteâs library in Cikini, West Jakarta
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A visitor at the Freedom Institute's library in Cikini, West Jakarta. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
Billed as the world's largest cultural event, the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany will give Indonesian authors and publishers a chance to go international at its next iteration in October.
Organizers will prepare a pavilion at the heart of the venue for Indonesia, this year's guest of honor.
Themed '17,000 Islands of Imagination', the Indonesian pavilion will exhibit the cultural riches of the nation, while publishers will staff a booth on the other side of the hall.
At least 200,000 book professionals, agents, publishers, translators and illustrators from over 120 countries are expected to gather in Frankfurt, plus 10,000 journalists and 7,000 exhibitors.
At least 3,000 events will be held simultaneously in Frankfurt and other cities in Germany to promote international literary works.
The fair, which thrust Latin America literature and author Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez into the global spotlight in the 1970s in its first edition, is a marketplace.
Works from the English-speaking world and Asia, including India and Arab nations ' will occupy halls at the heart of the action at the book fair.
The person behind the layout change is Juergen Boos, the director of Frankfurt Book Fair for the last 10 years.
'Germany is the second-largest book market in the world ' and the largest in Europe. After foreign books are translated into German and enter the market, other European countries will follow suit,' he said during a recent brief visit to Jakarta.
Boos, a former bookseller, worked for different publishing groups in Berlin. He was the marketing, sales and distribution director of the Wiley-VCH publishing group in Weinheim before taking over the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2005.
The 54-year-old was in town to meet with the Indonesian organizing committee for the book fair and government officials, specifically Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan.
Paving the way for Indonesia, the book fair is facilitating the translation of Indonesian literature into German.
One-hundred titles have already been translated and more would be ready by October, according to Boos.
A series of events involving Indonesian publishers and authors have been held in the run-up to the book fair to test the waters and to boost interest from the European industry in buying the rights to publish the works.
Late last year, a small festival was held in Frankfurt that was attended by three Indonesian authors including Ayu Utami.
'German media wrote a lot of articles about Indonesian culture and authors during the brief event,' Boos said. 'Many people don't know about Indonesia, other than what they read on the news about its politics or Bali.'
Another promotional event for Indonesia will be held at the Leipzig Literary Festiva, where there will be Indonesian book reading and discussions with authors.
A total of 70 authors will travel to Germany for the series of events.
'It's more like the year of German-Indonesia cultural exchange,' said Boos.
'At the economic level, Indonesia could benefit from selling the copyrights to foreign publishers. Moreover, the local publishing companies could create a long-term relationships with other publishers,' Boos said. 'There must be a tourism impact, as people get interested by the media attention to Indonesia culture.'
