Now that the 76th edition of the Frankfurt Book Fair is behind us, let's take a walk down memory lane to see what EIBF has been up to this year.
RISE Bookselling Study on consumer trends, behaviours and needs
The new exciting RISE Bookselling Study on consumer trends, behaviours and needs was finally unveiled at the Frankfurt Book Fair and presented at the Frankfurt Studio on the morning of Wednesday, 16th October, by EIBF Director Julie Belgrado – and was met with huge success.
The study was carried out by Belgian-based market research company Listen during the spring of 2024. Looking at data from 19 different countries and surveying a sample number of 500 people from each country, men and women from 18 to 55+, the report reveals current trends in reading habits and consumer attitudes to book purchasing. This includes the different motivations respondents have in reading and buying books, their preferred genres and book formats depending on the country market, as well as the expectations from bookshop services and much more.
The presentation of the study is available to watch on Youtube, while the report itself along with the separate one-pagers, as well as all previous studies and Industry Insights, are available on the RISE Bookselling website.
Long Live Literature, Long Live Europe! – The European Union Prize for Literature Turns 15
Four nominees for the European Union Prize for Literature – Todor Todorov, Deniz Utlu, Tina Vrščaj and Gaea Schoeters – participated in a panel discussion “Long Live Literature, Long Live Europe! - The European Union Prize for Literature Turns 15” on the 16th October in the Frankfurt Pavilion.
Moderated by Thomas Böhm (radioeins) and joined by Barbara Gessler (Head of Representation, European Commission in Germany) and Georg Häusler (Director for Culture, Creativity and Sport in the European Commission DG EAC), the conversation explored how literature reflects Europe's diverse cultural contexts while uniting us all through the power of storytelling. Afterwards, guests gathered for a celebratory toast at the European Commission stand, toasting to 15 years of the EUPL!
At the event, we distributed both the 2024 EUPL anthologies (available for download here) and the “European Stories from Ukraine” publication, also available in bilingual editions for download (EN/UA, IT/UA, DE/UA).
International Publishers Association: Sustainability and Freedom to Publish Summits
On the same day, EIBF also had the opportunity to participate in discussions hosted by the International Publishers Association - IPA on the vital importance of freedom of expression, specifically in terms of freedom to publish, in lieu of an ever-growing trend of undemocratic unrest and conflict across the globe.
In addition to this, important discussions were also had regarding the sustainability of the entire book chain. In these contexts, EIBF was glad to offer a bookselling perspective by detailing our work through the Industry Insights on censorship and freedom of expression and the RISE study on the sustainability of the bookselling sector (both available on the RISE Bookselling website).
EIBF Members Workshop – Vis-à-Vis: Understanding Each Other BA’s
On the morning of Thursday, 17th October, EIBF organized a workshop that aimed to bring together booksellers’ associations’ representatives from our membership. This workshop provided a unique opportunity for our members to meet and share insights about the best practices in their associations, their history, functioning, systems, initiatives, and more.
During an informal roundtable discussion, Bookseller Associations from all over the world had the opportunity to exchange with each other on various topics. Among the hot topics were the benefits of public procurement with bookshops and a discussion on how to fight against worrying trends such as increasing VAT on cultural products.
The Booksellers of the Future: Ideas and Projects for European Training of Booksellers
In the afternoon of the 17th October EIBF, together with the Italian Booksellers Association (ALI), organized a panel titled ‘’The Booksellers of the Future: Ideas and Projects for European Training of Booksellers’’.
The panel, moderated by EIBF’s Policy Assistant, Lorenzo Dall’Omo, featured Aldo Addis (SLI - Scuola librai italiani) and Judith Hoffmann (Mediacampus Frankfurt GmbH), who analyzed bookselling school programmes in their respective countries and explored opportunities for greater collaboration between these institutions.
Once again, we are extremely grateful of having attended such a unique event which brings together every single valuable piece of the book sector, and will certainly be back next year for more fruitful exchanges! See you then...