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Indonesia aims to shine at Frankfurt Book Fair
Made in Indonesia: Indonesian books are in full display at the 2015 Leipzig Book Fair
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Made in Indonesia: Indonesian books are in full display at the 2015 Leipzig Book Fair.
Indonesia is going all out to steal the world's attention at the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair in October.
Indonesia emerged from a tight selection process as this year's guest of honor for the Frankfurt Book Fair.
An organizing committee led by senior writer Goenawan Muhamad has been working since the beginning of the year to prepare for the October event.
'Finland had to wait 26 years before becoming the book fair's guest of honor,' he said, when speaking with The Jakarta Post.
He said that Indonesia was given the guest of honor title this year after five years of lobbying. Around Rp 150 billion (US$11.5 million) has been allocated to support Indonesia's activities as guest of honor.
'There are so many things to be done. We just don't want to miss out on any opportunities in this big event,' he said during a recent press conference to update the media on his team's preparation.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book fair in the world. Around 9,300 journalists from all around the globe will cover the annual event that involves more than 100 countries and draw more than 260,000 visitors.
Frankfurt Book Fair representative Claudia Kaiser explained that the selection of the guest of honor looked at numerous criteria, including ensuring the country's capacity to finance the all the required activity.
She added that Indonesia was chosen principally because it represented a big country with a lot of potential and rich culture.
Apart from that aspect, Indonesia is able to afford all the steps required of a guest of honor before and during the fair, Kaiser added.
Such requirements includes bringing Indonesian writers to the book fair and holding a series of pre-event activities, like seminars and art exhibitions.
'It is a multimillion dollar project; you have to be able afford it,' Kaiser said.
In return, the title will give Indonesia access to the main space of the fair, covering about 2,000 square meters, to exhibit the national literary richness as well as the opportunity for wide media coverage.
By becoming a guest of honor, Kaiser added that Indonesia now holds the key to the future of the global book industry.
'What's special about the Frankfurt Book Fair is that it sets the tone for the whole publishing industry for the coming years. Things discussed [at the fair] will continue to trend into the future,' she said.
In light of this huge opportunity, the Indonesian government through its Education Ministry has given its full support to the project by setting aside a large part of its budget from taxpayer's money.
The money has been used to set up a translation committee tasked with translating Indonesian books into a range of languages in the hope of promoting Indonesian writers to global readers.
The committee hopes that around 200 books will benefit from the translation subsidies. So far, 143 books have been selected.
Another use of funding is the Indonesian organizing committee's arrangement of a series of activities in the lead up to the book fair as part of the country's guest-of-honor commitments.
The activities include seminars with Indonesian writers; photography, art and architecture exhibitions; and also art performances featuring Indonesian musicians like Dwiki Dharmawan and Djaduk Ferianto.
The seminars, exhibitions and art performances will take place in different cities in Germany as part of the effort to promote the main event.
The Indonesian booth will also feature a culinary section, believed to be the first at Frankfurt book fair. This unique section will feature Indonesia's street food.
For these assorted programs and activities, the committee has selected the theme '17,000 Islands of Imagination' to represent the entire archipelago.
Goenawan hopes that presenting Indonesia's diverse cultures at the book fair could lure visitors to the country to discover more about Indonesian literature.
With more books being translated, he also hopes that Indonesian literature will get a greater chance of going international.
Kaiser agrees with Goenawan.
'This is a huge opportunity for Indonesia to present its authors and to sell the work of Indonesian writers,' Kaiser said.
Indonesian writer Ayu Utami has expressed hope that this kind of support will continue and remain consistent even after the Frankfurt fair is over.
'We have big potential. It will be a shame if we don't manage [this opportunity] carefully because it is our big chance,' she said.
Goenawan also hopes that the translation committee will continue their work after the fair finishes.
'I want Indonesian literature to rise,' he said. 'Indonesia is always being noticed for negative matters like corruption, tsunamis or the death sentence ' can we please get credit for something positive?'
' Photos courtesy of Indonesian National Committee for the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair
