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Last weekend it was finally time for one of my favourite weekends of the whole year, that I'm always looking forward to. Each year in October, the book fair in Frankfurt am Main, Germany takes place for a few days, being open to public for two of those. I started going there with my mum a few years ago, and haven't missed a year since.
Book fairs are were you are in a big area full of all these people that share your love for books, and how incredible is that?
I'm not fully aware of too many book fairs outside of Germany, but I'm pretty sure there are tons. If you have never been to one before, and you love books, I really recommend you to visit one. You might think it gets boring over the years, but that is definitely not the case. Each year their are new authors, new talks, new books and new experiences to happen (and tons of free stuff and food to take home hehe ;) ).
Today it's time to share my experiences from this year with you, and I will hopefully be able to make it enjoyable for you, at least in a slight way, and maybe even motivate you to go to a book fair yourself, if you haven't done so yet. :)
Saturday, and also Day 1 of the days that are open for public started off very early and foggy but it was definitely worth doing. I really recommend going early if you go to any of these things, because they get really full and sticky pretty quickly. It's probably not for everyone, at least here you can often find little mobs, especially in the second half of the day.
As soon as I was in, I practically ran for the hall of children- and teenager/young adult books which actually contains all books interesting to be honest. Not because I am only 17 but because that's were all publishers are that sell any book from childrens books, to thrillers, YA, Sci-Fi, etc - literally everything interesting. It's also the one that fills up the quickest, which is why it's always my first destination in the morning, and the one that I stay in the longest.
Even if I don't read German books anymore, I bloody love going through that hall. There's something really magical about it, I don't even know. Wherever you look you see people looking through books, taking pictures and picking up free bits and bobs.
Never have I ever seen more reading samples in my life before than at that place. The first year we came home with bags and bags of stuff, and I am really glad we went on a day that we weren't able to buy books at. That would have ended with us having to buy suitcases to get all that stuff home. This year I decided to only take the stuff that I truly wanted or felt like I would actually use (pens, food, Jamie Oliver recipes, Christmas tags etc). That's definitely been a better choice if you ask me.
Beforehand you get the chance to go through the app or the calendar on the website of the fair and find all the events happening over the whole time that it takes place. You can search for certain topics, authors, events or simply have a look through all of them and favourite which ones you want to keep in mind and maybe go to. That app has honestly saved me, even though I basically never end up going to these publishing events that I plan on going to, in order to find more information on things to do and not do once I've written the book of a lifetime maybe.
However, there are plenty of authors coming there for talks and signings, and not just German ones! There are many talks and discussions happening as well, so many in fact, you would never be able to see all of them. Not all of them focus on books, a lot of them also focus on political topics. In the hall that is partly about cooking and baking books, you can also watch cooking shows and try different stuff, I mean - what else could you possibly want?
There are photobooths, cosplayers, a certain country that they focus on in one hall each year (the Netherlands and Flanders), food trucks and sooo many other things that I am currently forgetting about.
Doesn't this sound awesome to you? It's the perfect place for everyone that loves to read and write.
On that day I also met a German youtuber and author, Mona Kasten, who I had already seen last year but didn't want to stand in that really long queue just to meet her when I've never read a book by her. I am really glad I got to see her on Saturday, even if it was just for a few seconds, because when I went to see how her signing was going on Sunday, the queue literally went till the end of the hall, and let me tell you - these halls are not small at all.
I also went to see the hall that included non-fiction and cooking, and afterwards headed out of the building to the shopping mall next to it. Don't judge me before you know what I did, I didn't just go shopping when I had paid 13 quid for a day ticket for the book fair. In that shopping mall was actually an event in a book shop happening, that I just could not miss in any possible way.
If you know me, you will probably be aware that I am not a big fan of German tv shows, but there is this one that really grabbed me. It's called 'Club der roten Bänder' (Club of Red Ribbons), and it's not even German originally. It's actually based on the life of a Spanish author named Albert Espinosa, who wrote about his fight with cancer, loosing one of his legs and several other things, and all that he has learned from it. The first book has also been translated into English, though the cover definitely isn't as pretty as it should be, trust me. It's not that typical cancer book, how Ms Hazel Grace Lancaster would describe them, but instead a book full of advice about life and death, and the things that he learned. I can't describe the way it's written in words, you will need to read it yourself in order to know what I mean - I definitely recommend you do that if you love inspirational stuff.
But back to the point, they actually made a Spanish TV show out of that, putting together a whole group of teenagers in hospital, living with certain illnesses and their journey as friends and individuals. That must have been the crappiest summary ever, but trust me - it's awesome!
Since last year there now is a German version of it, and I am freaking glad that it had its premiere on a day that I found nothing else to watch on. Now I'm obsessed, and I am so happy that I actually had the chance to meet 5 of the 6 main characters and the author as well on Saturday. I was one of the early birds there which meant I got to say hello a lot early and was first row in the signing line which was bloody awesome. I never would have thought that I would meet them, and it was honestly one of the best days of my life, minus the waiting. But they were so freaking nice, and I love that I had the chance to have little chats with them.
Now I will stop boring you with that experience, because you probably won't be able to share my enthusiasm about this anyway. So let's get into the second part of that weekend, after I had finally been able to calm my very happy and energetic self down.
The second half started just like the second, because for some reason I like to go through the 'children and teenager' one multiple times not to miss anything. That actually ended up with me meeting my first ever band favourite.
His name is Ross Anthony, and he used to be in a German band, put together by a German casting show in 2001! I don't know how that works out because I only turned three that year, but I definitely did listen to them back then! He wrote a book for small children and found his books when suddenly he was standing right behind me in a green snapback, and a blue suit with buttons tied over half of the things. Yep, that's Ross Anthony. But I think he's pretty funny. He's actually British, but over the years he has perfected his own version of a british/german accent. You literally wouldn't be able to hear it if he wouldn't put in a few English words or syllables from time to time.
I also went to see quite a few other halls that day, including the International one of course. Sadly they keep putting me down, as only Penguin gets a huge display and everyone just puts a huge mix of their books everywhere, has some tables and that's it. No discussions, signings or anything. Penguin actually do a sale each year at a certain time on the Sunday.
At least this time I knew better than to spend 20€ on a book that I would've gotten for 10 in any German library, after nearly panicking because they crammed so many people wanting to buy books in such a little space even though they literally have half the hall to themselves. This year they had 4 instead of 2 tables, so congrats on that :/. I didn't even bother doing the search for books because I definitely would have found a ton, but I knew better this time gladly, than spending the pound price on it.
If you were wondering, I only bought the book for the signing, as I prefer buying a new book when I have finished one in order not to get a huge TBR pile. :D
If you were wondering, I only bought the book for the signing, as I prefer buying a new book when I have finished one in order not to get a huge TBR pile. :D
On a more positive note, I still had a really nice and relaxed day, apart from having to wait another hour at the train station to be able to get a train home. I had a really really nice weekend, and I would honestly recommend book fairs to anyone that loves reading and writing. Even if they can be stressy sometimes, they are the best thing ever, and it will totally get you into the reading and writing mode, whether you had been blocked before or not.
Have you ever been to a book fair? If so, where, and how did you like it? :)
Have an amazing day ♥
Love, Jacqueline Xx
