At Frankfurter Buchmesse 2017, the Business Club conference will focus on five publishing markets: France, India, South-East Asia, the UK and the US. This year, the Business Club conference ‘The Markets’ with the slogan ‘Change – a 360-degree view’ will kick off the Frankfurter Buchmesse (11- 15 October 2017) with numerous political and international publishing topics on its agenda.Â
New York literary agent Andrew Wylie will open the conference. In his keynote, Wylie will examine, among other issues, which effects Donald Trump’s governance could have on the publishing industry. Wylie is considered one of the most powerful literary agents in the world. He founded the Wylie Agency in 1980 and now represents over 1,000 authors, artists and politicians, including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Bob Dylan, Karl Ove Knausgård, Christian Kracht, Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth, Madeleine Thien, and Roberto Saviano.
On 10 October 2017 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Hall 4, room Europa, Frankfurter Buchmesse Business Club), The Markets conference will turn its attention to five publishing markets—France, India, SouthEast Asia, the UK, and the US. Representatives from these countries and regions will talk about the latest changes, analysing trends and developments.
The Indian publishing sector is growing at an impressive rate—not only because new target groups are being tapped but because many multinational publishing companies based in India now publish books in Indian regional languages such as Hindi and Marathi, thereby not only growing in terms of local authors, but also opening new business areas in the licensing market. In a conversation with a representative of the Indian publishing industry, Prashasti Rastogi from the German Book Office, New Delhi, will discuss how domestic and international publishers can take advantage of the growth in Indian publishing.
For the Eurocentric publishing industry, South-East Asia is not just many miles away geographically, innovations from this part of the world are also rarely noticed by the European book market. In an interview with Claudia Kaiser, vice president – business development South-East Asia of the Frankfurter Buchmesse, Arief Hakim, managing director of the Malaysian PTS Media Group, will talk about the move towards innovative developments in his region, particularly in the digital sector.
A panel discussion on the topic of ‘shifting perspectives’ with participants from a number of markets will round off the morning with a glance beyond the publishing sector. Conference attendees will have the chance to ask individual questions about the countries represented at The Markets in personal conversations directly at the Book Fair. Three market players from each of the respective markets will be available for matchmaking appointments and will provide detailed information about various publishing segments, including fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, distribution, and others.
