Banner Ad

Frankfurt Book Fair

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the publishing industry's largest, and arguably, most important event, with over 280,000 visitors and 70,000 exhibitors, countless special events, exhibitions, and multi-lingual forums. The main business of the Fair is the buying and selling of rights (territorial, film, translation and other kinds).

One option for a Mekong publisher would be to first attend as a Trade Visitor for three days, as tens of thousands do, to get a feel for the Fair, to do business, research and network.

Although for most small publishers the cost of attending is prohibitive, we hope to see some Cambodian, Lao, and more Vietnamese publishers trying to sell or buy rights, negotiating translations, and conducting other professional business, at Frankfurt as well as other regional Book Fairs in the coming years.

Promoting Mekong books at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Mekong Press had a stand at the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF 2006) through the participation of the Coordinator, Dayaneetha De Silva, who was a guest of this year's International Invitation Program. Along with material on Mekong Press and books by Silkworm, the stand displayed some titles by, and brochures about, some regional presses (SIPAR, Reyum, Center for Khmer Studies, Editions Sieng Mouang, Editions Rivages Lointains).

In addition to meetings with more than forty-five individual publishers, distributors, librarians, translators, literary agents, and booksellers from all over the world, Mekong Press also urged the staff of the International Program to think about inviting more small publishers from the region. Mekong Press's Publisher, Trasvin Jittidecharak, a veteran of the Fair, was also busy at FBF 2006, exhibiting Silkworm Books at Thailand's national stand, and having many meetings.

Old and new friends of Mekong Press were there too — (Pham Tran) Long, representing The Gio in Hanoi; and Shane (Suvikapakornkul), who popped open a few bottles of celebratory champagne at his Serindia stand in the hall with the "serious money" (Hall 8.0, home to most of the world's biggest American and British publishing houses).

Mekong Press stand

The Mekong Press stand was in more modest but great company in Hall 5.1, flanked by independent publishers from Indonesia, China, Palestine, India, Lebanon, Mozambique, Iraq, Iran, Guatemala, Morocco, Jamaica, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mexico, and many other publishers from all over the world, as well as an important Forum venue, the International Program office, Translation centre and last but not least, a free Lavazza coffee bar!