LEIPZIG BOOK FAIR (March 14 to 17, 2013)
Leipzig, March 13, 2013
Festive, literary, political - diversity is the core theme of the program for the Leipzig spring of books
What do 100,000 titles, 2,069 exhibitors, 2,900 authors and participants and 2,800 events all have in common? They all herald the Leipzig spring of books. At the Leipzig Book Fair and Europe's largest reading festival „Leipzig liest” (“Leipzig reads”) from March 14. to 17., readers, listeners and onlookers can discover, read and experience literature and literary figure at close quarters. „Diversity is the core theme of the program. Award-winning literature, biographies or guide books, bestsellers or smallest editions, young authors or old masters, in rectangular or round format – the word is at the centre of focus and waits to be discovered“, says Martin Buhl-Wagner, spokesman of the management of the Leipziger Messe.
The city will ceremoniously herald the book festival this evening. At the opening in the historical Gewandhaus, the German literary scientist Klaus-Michael Bogdal will receive the Leipzig book award on European Understanding for his latest work „Europa erfindet die Zigeuner” (“Europe invents the gypsies”). The laudation will be held by the author Feridun Zaimoglu. Also in a festive setting the jury of the Leipzig book fair award will announce this year's winners in the categories fiction literature, non-fiction/essay writing and translation on the first day of the fair on March 14. in the glass hall of the Leipzig exhibition facilities.
The program of the Leipzig spring of books spans across top-class literature from home and overseas, as well as thrillers and fantasy novels, children's and teens books, comics and Mangas, non-fiction books and guide books, as well as audio books and CDs. Star authors or debutants, celebrities or starlets, politicians or moderators all find their public at 365 reading locations throughout the city.
Already on the first day of the fair (March 14.) participants such as Egon Bahr, Ralph Dutli, Dave Eggers, Péter Esterházy, Christoph Hein, Hellmuth Karasek, Margot Käßmann, Ally Kennen, Georg Klein, Heiner Lauterbach, Eva Menasse, Amos Oz, Udo Reiter, Katharina Saalfrank, Andrea Sawatzki, Jón Kalman Stefánsson and Ilja Trojanow look forward to a meeting with their audience. Amongst the highlights of the first day of the fair is the „Autorenspecial” (“author's special”) that takes place every year at the Leipzig book fair in cooperation with the Literarischen Colloquium Berlin (LCB, Literary Colloquium Berlin) and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This year the individual “impressions of Germany“ from authors from six European countries are in the centre of focus of the four day event series. The start will be made on March 14. starting from 12.00 noon by the authors Eva Menasse, John Lanchester and Christos Ikonomou. After the fair the essays of all participants can be read in a special edition of the journal „Sprache im technischen Zeitalter” (“Language in the technological age”). In the evening pure suspense is promised by the ARD Radio Tatort Night in the trading exchange, amongst others with Sönke Möhring.
On the Friday of the fair (March 15.) authors, artists, publishers, politicians and Manga artists such as Jakob Augstein, Ben Becker, Sabine Ebert, Zoran Ferić, Joy Fleming, André Glucksmann, Michail Gorbatschow, Dora Heldt, Wolfgang Holbein, Louis Jensen, Reinhard Jirgl, Etgar Keret, György Konrâd, Sarah Quigley and Ema Toyama present their latest works. On the Adria-Night with Renato Baretić, Alida Bremer, Zoran Ferić, Maša Kolanović and Klaus Detlef Olof, Croatia Creative 2013 celebrates the start of the festival year that is dedicated to the EC entry of Croatia.
Amongst the highlights on the Saturday of the fair (March 16.) are the appearances of Irena Brežná, Joey Goebel, Jorge Gonzalez, Gregor Gysi, Christine Kaufmann, Abbas Khider, Claus Kleber, Tite Kubo, Günter Kunert, Irina Liebmann, Alfred Neven DuMont, Thomas Rath, Serhij Zhadan and Hanns Zischler. In the evening amongst others the literature party LitPop from MDR SPUTNIK and the tranzyt-night „Slam meets poetry“ will above all attract the younger public. The first Leipzig author round table within the scope of the specialist program autoren@leipzig is directed towards every kind of author - publishing company authors, self publishers, bloggers, text writers and publicists.
For the conclusion of the Leipzig spring of books on Sunday (March 17.) authors and participants such as Andreas Altmann, Alina Bronsky, Carla Guelfenbein, Felicitas Hoppe, Judith Kuckert, Dirk Kurbjuweit, Derek Landy, Kai Meyer, Atsushi Ohkubo or Martin Walser will present readings. The Sunday of the fair is traditionally family day. Cheap family entrance prices (9.00 € per person), the „Digital Family cafe“ with Apps and E-Books to try out and literary innovations to discover, as well as daylong free childcare facilities are available for the families. Children below 12 years of age that bring their favourite book along with them receive free entrance until 10 AM on the family Sunday.
Special exhibitions extend their invitations over all four days of the fair. Under the title “100 years Kurt Wolff publishing company in Leipzig“ an exhibition informs about the history of the publishing company, and “Island worlds: 100 years island library“ presents the famous book series. The year 2013 is the 50th anniversary of the competition “The most beautiful books from around the world“. For the anniversary a special exhibition at the stand of the Stiftung Buchkunst (foundation for book art) shows all the bearers of the highest award of the “Golden Letters“ since the beginning of the competition. Attention editorial departments! Special press releases are enclosed in the press folder related to the individual topic worlds of the Leipzig book fair (amongst others antique book fair, comics/Mangas, audio books/music/DVD, Leipzig reads for kids and teens, Leipzig reads, the Leipzig book fair award, award for European understanding, program main focus area „tranzyt. kilometer 2013. Literature from Poland and the Ukraine and Belarus). In addition you will find the press releases on the web site www.leipziger-buchmesse.de/pressemeldungen.
Contact person for the press: Nancy Pfaff, press spokesperson Phone: +49 (0) 341 / 6 78 6554 Fax: +49 (0) 341 / 6 78 6512 E-Mail: [email protected]
Leipzig book fair on the Internet: http://www.leipziger-buchmesse.de Leipziger Messe on the Internet: http://www.leipziger-messe.de
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