Frankfurt Book Fair: Juergen Boos is adopted by Joachim Kaufmann | EUROtoday

When Juergen Boos took over as director of the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2005, the corporate was in a deep disaster. Boos’ predecessor Lorenzo Rudolf had abolished the favored visitor nation program, which Boos’ predecessor Volker Neumann reintroduced, however strained the connection with the venue by threatening to maneuver to Munich with the commerce truthful.

As the brand new director, Boos smoothed issues over, continued to ask visitor international locations and gave this system new impetus by private dedication – anybody who noticed him at an occasion devoted to the introduction of a visitor nation noticed a e-book truthful director who knew easy methods to mix skilled reward with a reputable curiosity within the nation’s literature. Boos, it appeared, had gained loads from the journey related to the efficiency.

While fewer and fewer books have been bought and the variety of readers steadily declined, the truthful did properly for a very long time. Every yr round 280,000 guests got here, typically fewer, usually extra. The variety of exhibitors was additionally constantly over 7,000. In 2019 there have been a formidable 302,000 guests and seven,450 exhibitors.

Then got here Corona. In Leipzig and Frankfurt the occasions have been canceled or happened in bonsai variations. The e-book truthful has not but totally recovered from this, particularly among the many organizers. Last yr there have been 4,350, in comparison with the time earlier than Corona, simply over half. After all, the drastic drop in customer numbers is slowly growing once more. Last yr there have been 238,000.

When Juergen Boos proclaims his departure as e-book truthful director, he isn’t handing over a simple process to his successor. And Joachim Kaufmann, who joined Carlsen-Verlag twenty years in the past and, as managing director, is collectively chargeable for the corporate’s sturdy progress from 72 workers to 260, will now lead a corporation that has not too long ago turn into leaner.

During his time at Carlsen, Kaufmann, who is alleged to have a fantastic want to alter present buildings, additionally needed to take care of a standard firm that needed to assess which buildings and content material it had grown keen on can be higher to half with as a way to stay financially sound. Carlsen skilled a fantastic improve in significance by the “Harry Potter” sequence, Stephenie Meyer’s vampire novels and different younger grownup books. At the identical time, it grew to become clear that the “Petzi” books, with which thousands and thousands of youngsters grew up and to which Kaufmann additionally felt emotionally linked, not discovered a big viewers – Carlsen separated himself from the overwhelming majority of “Petzi” titles, although the publishing home was as soon as based for his or her sake.

Kaufmann could need to method his new place with comparable dedication. He advantages from the truth that he’s properly linked internationally, which may assist persuade publishers from abroad to return to the commerce truthful. At the identical time, he’s specializing in occasions to convey considerably extra guests to Frankfurt and to finance the commerce truthful much more from ticket gross sales.

This path was already taken by his predecessor, who opened the commerce truthful gates huge to lovers of the booming New Adult style and massively intervened within the normal association of corridor occupancy. Kaufmann, who begins in Frankfurt on September 1st, desires to see every thing as a type of trainee. Until the top of this yr’s commerce truthful with the visitor nation the Czech Republic, the stage belongs to Juergen Boos.