As a child I loved books and bookstoes. I would and can spend hours browsing shelves, picking up different titles, reading a few pages.
I decided to attend my first large book fair only 72 minutes away by train, The Leipziger Buchmesse. Spread over 4 halls for 4 days, this is a literature lovers dream come true.
Before WW2 the city of Leipzig was the publishing capital of Germany, many publishing houses and printers were based in the Graphics Quarter of the city. Dating back to the 17th century, the Leipzig Book Fair was the most important publishing event in the world. The Saxony capital lost its place in the publishing world after the War. The Quarter tarea was bombed by allies, communist took control of the country in 1945 leaving many publishes either the decison to close or move to the West Germany.
Thebook fair re-emerged in 1991 with a focus on German literature, gaining popularity and importance.
Fast forward, presently, there were books from all over the world. Many countries had stands and booths welcoming attendees to peruse titles from their homegrown authors. The 2018 country of focus was Romania.
Many publishing houses had sitting areas for readingor looking over books. There were many young adult and cooking books.Purchasing titles was also permitted.
The surprise of the day came from the Manga Comicon happening at the same time of the book fair in Hall One. Why are people wearing superhero costumes, was in my mind as I walked up to the Leipzig Center. Am I lost? During the Leipzig Book Fair Manga Comic Con occurs in Hall 1. A noticeable higher level of energy than in the book fair area. The passion at this event was on full display from elaborate costumes, make up, and choreographed presentations. Gender fluidity was the trend; meaning guys wearing dresses and female costumes.
Sadly, I did not attend the many book and reading events occurring in Leipzig during the fair. The event happens every year, I will make a more involved plan next year, March 21st to 24th 2019.