Recognition and advances

The 60th Frankfurt Book Fair has beaten all previous records. This year’s fair was attended by representatives of 101 countries and 280,000 visitors — tickets were sold at €12, a largely symbolic price for Europe — and featured 270 events. A total of 390,000 books-the highest number to date-was presented at the fair. Printed books made up a little over 40 percent, while nearly 30 percent of all exhibits were examples of new technology.

Ukrainian books were not lost amid the huge array of publications. The State Television and Radio Committee (Derzhkomteleradio) brought an assortment of more than 1,500 books. Visitors were drawn to publications on the Holodomor in Ukraine, which were displayed prominently at the book stand, as well as books published by Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Publishers and The Day. A lasting impression was made by the unparalleled artistry of Nikolai Gogol’s (Mykola Hohol’s) Tales of St. Petersburg published by Hrani-T Publishers and masterfully illustrated by Yurii Charyshnikov.

According to the hosts of the book fair as well as visitors, the main drawing card of the Ukrainian exhibit was the National Atlas of Ukraine, published by the Kartografia State Scientific and Production Company. There were always crowds of people examining this publication. Romanian specialists were intrigued by the expertise behind such a monumental edition and launched talks to initiate cooperation in pub­lishing a national atlas for Romania.

Among the many events held during the Frankfurt fair was Ukrainian Book Day, which featured numerous launches and pub­lishers’ business meetings That day, the Ukrainian delegation headed by Anatolii Mu­ra­khov­sky, the first deputy director of Derzhkomteleradio and its current acting head, held talks with the administration of the Frankfurt Fair to name Ukraine as guest of honor in the near future.

Last year the tentative date of 2012 was suggested, but experts believe that this is unlikely to happen before 2016 because the guests of honor have already been determined for the next few years. This year Turkey was the guest of honor in Frankfurt. The importance of this status was attested by the presence at the fair of the country’s head of state, President Abdullah Gul, and the fact that Turkish literature was presented by Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature.

The highlight of Turkey’s program was an exhibition of contemporary art on 10 different exhibition grounds at the fair, as well as musical performances. Next year, China will be the guest of honor, followed by Argentina and Iceland.

“The hosts of the Frankfurt Book Fair pointed to the high level of Ukraine’s publications, their conformity to world standards, and original book designs,” said Murakhovsky. “How­ever, they did not give us a final date for Ukraine’s participation as guest of honor. The negotiations will continue, but we need to start getting ready now — and very seriously at that. We need to translate the works of Ukrainian classical and contemporary writers into European languages, particularly German, and promote them for several years so that Ukraine will become known through the works of Ukrainian writers.”