At the joint invitation of the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Federation of European Publishers, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy will make an intervention on Thursday 20 October at 12.30. His speech will be followed by an allocution of Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, in charge of culture in the European Commission. The event is open to the public and will take place in Room Harmonie, Congress Centre.
It goes without saying that all participants at the Fair are convinced that books are key to a better world, and this is also true for Ukraine. Today and tomorrow, all book professionals in Ukraine must be in a capacity to resume their activities and to promote their culture to their citizens and to the world. For Ukrainian literature to be present at the Frankfurt Book Fair with a large stand and many publishers present, is also an act of resistance and it is the duty of the book world to support their efforts to preserve and promote their books. European publishers and publishers from all over the world have already shown support but this is only the beginning, and we need to involve the States too.
The European Commissioner for culture has, since the beginning, been actively involved in developing support for Ukraine through networking and special calls. After visiting the fair, she will speak to delegates about specific developments at the European level affecting the world of books.
Peter Kraus vom Cleff, FEP President and MD Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, said: “with FEP and with the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, since the start of the invasion, we have reached to our Ukrainian counterparts and offered support. What Ukraine is doing now is standing for our rights and our values. The whole book community must continue its mobilisation so that publishing in Ukraine can remain vivid. I thank President Zelenskyy for having chosen Frankfurt for his intervention and invite all colleagues to join us to listen to him and the Commissioner for Culture”.
Juergen Boos, President of the Frankfurt Book Fair, said: “The Frankfurt Book Fair has maintained close relations with publishers, authors and industry-related institutions in Ukraine for many years and has carried out numerous trade fair participations, publishers' training courses and specialist programmes in recent years. This year, it is very important to us to enable and support the networking of Ukrainian colleagues with their partners worldwide and to let many Ukrainian intellectuals, publishers, authors and cultural workers have their say at the Frankfurt Book Fair to report on the current situation. We want to create publicity and raise awareness of what is at stake”.
Agenda
Opening remarks
Peter Kraus vom Cleff - FEP President, MD Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels
Juergen Boos - President Frankfurt Book Fair
Video-message
Volodymyr Zelenskyy - President of Ukraine
Speech
Mariya Gabriel - European Commissioner for Culture, Education, Youth and Sport
Closing remarks
Peter Kraus vom Cleff - FEP President, MD Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels