Frankfurt Book Fair 2024 reports 230,000 visitors, with Italy as guest of honour

The 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse took place from 16 to 20 October 2024. Italy was guest of honour, presenting more than 90 authors under the motto Roots in the Future, and a programme of readings, talks and concerts in its pavilion and around the city.

In its closing report the fair said it had welcomed 115,000 trade visitors from 153 countries and 115,000 private visitors, 230,000 in total, up from 215,000 the year before. It counted more than 4,300 exhibitors and over 3,300 events. The Literary Agents and Scouts Centre and the Publishers Rights Centre together held 593 tables, used by 355 agencies and publishers.

The organisers pointed to adaptation for film and games, international rights and translation as recurring threads, and the fair gave space for the first time to New Adult fiction. The Philippines was confirmed as guest of honour for 2025.

Frankfurt remains, first and foremost, a rights market. Most of what happens there is invisible to readers until a translated edition or a screen adaptation appears a year or two later. For authors, the practical point is that foreign and subsidiary rights are sold in rooms like these, usually by agents or publishers, so it is worth knowing who holds those rights in your contract and whether anyone is actively offering them.

Source: Frankfurter Buchmesse: 76th Frankfurter Buchmesse takes stock.