Canada to get Frankfurt Book Fair spotlight

If the buzz from dozens of publishers, authors, publishing organizations and media from both Germany and Canada is any indication, there’s a lot of pent-up interest in Canada’s upcoming appearance as the guest of honour at the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair.

The event has been six years in the making: Canada was first approached in 2013 to accept the honour, then to be featured at the 2017 fair. But the Harper government, in power at the time, turned the honour down. What’s different this time?

“We needed an election to happen,” quipped Caroline Forti n, president of Canada FBM2020.

Being guest of honour brings a number of perks: The named country’s literature and culture will be showcased in events for the entire year leading up to the fair, which takes place every October.

There was an event at Ben McNally Books on Wednesday to unveil the brand identity for the fair.

The “slogo” as they playfully called it, is a combination of the words “Singular, Plurality” with three stylized triangles; representing, in part, “the three As in Canada.”

They won’t be using the logo publicly as an organization just yet — they’ll wait until after this year’s fair when Norway, the 2019 guest of honour, has been fully feted.

Part of the mandate of the guest of honour program is to increase the profile of Canadian authors and culture, but also to expand book sales.

“If we want to expand our business, this is where we have to go,” said Fortin, talking about the importance of reaching out to international audiences.

Authors and publishers can be part of the Canada pavilion only if they have a German publishing partner.

While many books from big publishers and authors are already translated and sold around the world, the chance for smaller publishers and authors to get their work out there is being greeted with enthusiasm.