Georgia named ‘guest of honour’ at Frankfurt Book Fair

Georgia’s literacy world will be showcased to the world after being named as the guest of honour at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair.

Hundreds of literacy works from Georgian authors and locally published pieces will be on display at the five-day festival, which is regarded as one of the world’s largest trade fair for books and generates more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries and 286,000 visitors annually.

Director of the book fair Juergen Boos said he was excited to announce Georgia would be specifically represented at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair.

"We look forward to welcoming this culturally exciting country as our Guest of Honour in 2018”, said Boos.

"It’s particularly appealing for us to be able to support the Georgian publishing scene in their preparations over the next four years, precisely because we have never worked with such a ‘young’ book market before.”

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili recently met Boos and discussed how Georgia would be presented at the festival. Afterward, Garibashvili said this opportunity had not only cultural, but political significance to Georgia, and he would oversee the coordination process himself.

More than 300 Georgian books will be translated in order to suitably present Georgia on the book fair. This process will be coordinatied by the National Book Centre, which was established in the Culture Ministry, Garibashvili said.

The fair’s Guest of Honour program established in 1976 and since then 25 countries and regions have been specifically mentioned at the international book fair.