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Organisers of the Frankfurt Buchmesse have announced the Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg) has sold out after record interest, and that the new Publishers Rights Centre is also expected to also reach full capacity.
A total of 548 work tables have been reserved – a record number that exceeds the figures of the pre-pandemic years of 528 tables in 2018 and 522 tables in 2019. Overall, the fair expects to welcome 326 agencies from 31 countries at the 2023 fair, taking place this year between 18th and 22nd October.
The countries with the most representatives in the LitAg this year are the UK, the United States, Germany, Spain and Sweden. For the first time, representatives from the United Arab Emirates will also be present with a table and, after a hiatus during the pandemic, agencies from China will once again be on site.
Beginning this year, publishing professionals specialising in foreign rights and licensing will also have their own space at Frankfurter Buchmesse: the new Publishers Rights Centre (PRC), which will be located directly next to the LitAg in Hall 6.2. Only a few free tables remain, organisers said.
Juergen Boos, director of the fair, said: “I’m delighted that a ‘Sold Out!’ sign is hanging on the Literary Agents & Scouts Centre. The great demand among international agencies underscores Frankfurter Buchmesse’s claim to being the most important marketplace for rights and licences of all kinds.
"That the demand even exceeds the high level of the pre-pandemic years is proof of how crucial in-person meetings are in the publishing business – and how acutely everyone missed those interactions during the Covid years. Trust – which is indispensable in our industry – is built most sustainably through face-to-face meetings."
The LitAg and PRC will open on 17th October, one day before the official start of the book fair.