Ev
ery year, thousands of publishers, agents, editors, and others travel to Frankfurt, Germany to gather at the Frankfurt Buchmesse with the sole purpose of buying and selling international book rights. I was one of the fortunate few selected to attend the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair on behalf of the MS in Publishing program here at Pace, and it quite honestly felt like the honor of my life! I went into the week in Germany ready to work, ready to connect, and ready to learn! Now, after being back for a few weeks, I can confidently confirm that my peers and I achieved all of that and more.
I personally spent my week working at the Literary Agents Center, where I watched thousands of agents mill through the overwhelming grid of agency tables where meetings were being held every thirty minutes from eight o’clock in the morning to six-thirty at night. I helped man the LitAg information desk, where I assisted agents in locating the agency they were looking for, printed staff badges for people with recurring meetings over the course of the week, and passed out locker keys to the agencies with booths. If there was another person helping run the desk with me, I would even sometimes walk agents to their meetings and chat with them along the way. I was able to connect with so many agents from around the world, and even meet some agents local to NYC who shared their information in hopes of hearing from me in the future!
The LitAg information desk was overrun with people asking questions at any given time during working hours of the fair, and it was quite an intense job at times. I had wonderful co-workers and supervisors (thanks Jenny and Michael) who were so understanding and encouraging when I had an important meeting to attend, or when there was a lecture I wanted to see. They carved out time for me to go and do my thing, and I handled the desk solo when it was time for my co-workers to have their well-deserved breaks. We worked so well together and I’m proud of the way we handled working the desk, as it had moments of being completely overwhelming.
When anybody has asked how my experience at the Frankfurt Book Fair was, I’ve answered the same way every time: It was a marathon fueled by sheer excitement, a little adrenaline, and a significant amount of hotel coffee! Not only was I spurred on by caffeine and excitement, though. I had this experience of a lifetime because of my peers–my friends–who I attended with. We made the absolute most of this trip; we went to the biggest bookstore I’ve ever been to in my life, we essentially shopped until we dropped, and we took advantage of being in a new, beautiful country with every spare second we had. I am so grateful to Pace University and the MS in Publishing program for affording me this opportunity, where I not only grew, but I made lifelong memories with friends that I will never forget.