Norway FBF 2019 guest of honour

Norway will be the guest of honour at Frankfurt Book Fair 2019.

Margit Walsø, director of NORLA (The Centre for Norwegian Literature Abroad), and Juergen Boos, director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, signed the contracts confirming the decision in the foyer of the National Theatre, in Oslo, on 12th May.

Boos said: "With Norway, we are already announcing our fourth future guest of honour today. This shows that Frankfurt Book Fair will remain the relevant stage for literary and cultural content in future. I'm looking forward to Norway as a country with a long literary tradition that stretches back to the world-renowned Henrik Ibsen and to the charismatic and relentless Karl Ove Knausgård, who is currently taking the literary world by surprise."

A spokesperson for NORLA said: “The entire Norwegian book industry considers Norway's status as the guest of honour of Frankfurt Book Fair 2019 to be an important cultural boost and valuable investment. The rest of the cultural industry has also received the initiative with enthusiasm. The active participation of the government and Norwegian Parliament shows just how highly motivated the country is for the project. Germany is not only an important international market for Norwegian culture, it is also the country’s most important economic partner in Europe.”

Norway will offer a “comprehensive” cultural and literary program that will begin three years in advance and be expanded upon gradually. In addition to literature, books and Norwegian authors, other art forms will also be introduced to the public through a range of events and articles in the media.

Meanwhile, this year's Frankfurt Book Fair will see the launch of The Arts+, a fair for new business models in the cultural and creative industries which will be targeting cultural and creative professionals as well as publishers and software/IT companies.

Vice president of FBF Holger Volland said: “Frankfurt Book Fair is one of the world’s most important content trade fairs and one of the largest cultural events in Europe. It makes sense to build on this foundation to create the first marketplace of its kind for cultural and creative content.”

The Arts+ will be for "everyone who creates, manages, exhibits, publishes, presents, remixes or refines creative and cultural content" including publishers, designers, architects, directors and curators of museums and institutions, software developers, media representatives, brand managers, artists, photographers and politicians.