My FBF: Jake Smith-Bosanquet, rights agent, CAA

This is my 17th Frankfurt Book Fair, my second with CAA. My first was 2005, and a few things that stick out in the mind are being struck by the enormous scale of the event— a schedule that, back then, felt like it both started and finished later in the week—some quirky accommodation, and boxes of material that scouts and editors would read overnight back at their hotels, so they said…

There was one FBF party on a rooftop about 10 years ago that was I think a joint venture between a couple of Spain- and Mexico-based publishing houses. It went on quite late. The following morning my then Airbnb-share came into my room wearing a wrestling mask (which is also my most frightening book fair moment).

Some of my favourite fairs have been a few that have been dominated by specific books or themes. On occasion, you don’t hear so much about the books after the fairs that they have dominated, and it is the cohort of attendees who are left with long-standing impressions. I still sometimes think about forest bathing, but associate it with the LitAg centre, rather than the actual forests outside.

The people I’m looking to seeing this year, among many others, are the editors involved in CAA’s significant 2024 and 2025 publications. It will be a thrill to have these catch-ups. In addition to these relationships, I love the editors who bring those handful of literary discoveries that they have published or wanted to publish.

This year I have some very strong titles—fiction and non-fiction—that will repay extremely focused and detailed meetings at the table. Often agents enjoy elevator pitches, but this year I will be channelling my inner Ancient Mariner, and am excited to see who can be won over.

I don’t have a good answer to best restaurants or post-fair haunts. But I’m looking forward to a return visit one night to Mogk’s, south of the river, for a sort of more traditional beer-drinking experience. At the other end of the scale, the CAA team last year took to converging in the Lume for a late “Paul” mezcal margarita nightcap, which is an excellent environment to unwind.

IRL fairs are crucial. There is no other way that I can think of that we can talk so concertedly about the books that are important to us, hear and absorb news and market developments, and still have the magical element of chaos, and the chance encounters and conversations that can illuminate blind spots.

My top fair tip is that I try to walk everywhere I can when I’m getting round the city. Also, be extremely early to the halls, and during the meetings aim to land one title that will be the thing that that editor will think about later in the day.

You know one thing I love about FBF? Legendarily, though we don’t perhaps see it from our tables in the LitAg, the sun always shines in Frankfurt during book fair week.