From October 16th to October 20th, the Frankfurt Book Fair in Frankfurt, Germany took place. It is the largest international book trade fair held annually. Program director Professor Manuela Soares flew to Germany and took two students, Valentina and Cassie, along on the trip to immerse themselves into the world of publishing even deeper. They had quite a nice time learning more about the publishing world and what it entails. Below is some commentary from Valentina and Cassie describing their experience on the trip.
Valentina: “The Frankfurt Book Fair was a wonderful experience and a great chance to learn firsthand about many sides of publishing. My job was to attend different panels and conferences, taking notes and snapping pictures for media coverage. I was assigned to cover a range of topics—from children’s book panels (in which one of the guest speakers was Cornelia Funke) to manga publishing, translations in the Italian publishing industry, and the award ceremony for the 2025 Publishing Award. Getting to attend panels with professionals from all over the world gave me a real sense of today’s publishing industry—its challenges, interests, and successes. It was such an eye-opening experience, and I learned more than I ever could have expected.
We also got to meet the Frankfurt Book Fair’s CEO, Juergen Boos. We had the chance to sit down with him, talk about our interests and goals, and discuss different aspects of the industry. He gave us some advice on growing in our careers and shared more about the fair itself, its mission, impact, and why it’s so important for the industry and culture as a whole. I’m really thankful to the program for giving me this opportunity—it’s an experience I’ll carry forward as I keep building my path in publishing.”
Cassie: “It’s easy to mistake the US publishing industry as big. The numbers, after all, do sound impressive. Over 1 million new titles come out each year, and revenue is at nearly $30 billion. But it took me all of a day in Germany to see that our own little American microcosm was just a drop in the ocean.
The Frankfurt Book Fair is hard to describe. An eldritch being of events, if you will. What hit me first was the sheer size of it. One hundred and thirty countries, four thousand exhibits, and two hundred thousand visitors in attendance. It was imposing, and overwhelming, and I got lost more times than I care to admit. But what hit me next was excitement at its vastness. I could take a left turn at Indonesia, meander down ten steps to find myself in Holland, and turn around to see Ghana just behind me. Suddenly I wasn’t lost at all—I was on an adventure.
I met people from all over the world that I never would have otherwise. I saw books in languages that I will never be able to understand (unless I seriously level up my Duolingo game). And I attended panels on issues that I never even knew existed, but have since become heavily invested. For instance, did you know that some countries find it nearly impossible to sell their books across borders because online retailers like Amazon don’t support their languages? And that to increase their chances of international sales, more authors have been writing in English, leading to a decline in literacy among young readers in their native tongues? I had no idea, but now I am truly tempted to write a whole second thesis on the topic.
That was only one brief example of the eye-opening and thought-provoking talks I saw in Frankfurt. I was lucky enough that my “job” at the fair was to attend panels and create short reels of highlights from each one. I put the word in quotation marks not because I didn’t take it seriously, or that it wasn’t demanding—the technical difficulties alone were a tribulation—but because attending those events was such an incredible pleasure that it was impossible to feel that it was work rather than a gift. I learned about everything from book-to-screen adaptations to the changing rhetoric of politics, to the use of AI in social media marketing. At the risk of sounding grandiose, my world grew in those few days in Frankfurt.
For all that I witnessed, there was so much that I wasn’t able to. I have never resented so acutely my lack of omnipresence. But rather than mourn what I missed, I have chosen to come away inspired by what I was able to see. Not just by the individual issues themselves, but by the experience as a whole. Especially in the United States, which is pervasively and proudly ethnocentric in its media, it is long overdue that we broaden our perspective. We cannot be satisfied with what is immediately available to us and must seek out the unexplored and the unknown. The Frankfurt Book Fair offers the opportunity to do just that. I would implore anyone in the publishing industry to visit if they are able, for one reason above all others: you will see with your own eyes that despite all our differences—cultural, linguistic, religious, or what have you—storytelling is something that we all share. It is a biological imperative of our species. And among the one hundred and thirty countries, four thousand exhibits, and two hundred thousand visitors, you will realize that those differences are not hurdles to overcome. They are vital, they are inspiring, and they are beautiful.
I can only hope that my first experience at the Frankfurt Book Fair was not my last. As anyone who has attended would surely agree, one visit was not nearly enough.”
We are so elated that the experience was memorable for everyone who attended, and we look forward to future travel opportunities in the MS in Publishing program!
Valentina with Juergen Boos, President and CEO of the Frankfurter Buchmesse