The rising Corona infection figures and the stricter rules that go with them have prompted the Book Fair team to revise the plans for this year's special edition of the Fair once again. It has been decided that the programme of events on the ARD Book Fair stage in the Frankfurt Festhalle will now take place without an audience after all. Only the participating presenters and authors will be on site. The events will be streamed live and can be viewed at www.buchmesse.ard.de and www.buchmesse.de/live can be followed.
Juergen Boos, the director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, commented on the decision: "The health and hygiene concept for the use of the Frankfurt Festhalle was re-examined and approved by the local authorities a few days ago. Nevertheless, out of consideration for the health of the guests, we have decided to minimise the risks and not to open the Festhalle to the public. However, we hope to reach many viewers* with the livestream."
Manfred Krupp, the director of Hessischer Rundfunk, added: "I am of course very sorry that the Book Fair will now take place without any visitors* after all this year, but I am confident that the broad digital offering will be convincing. Via the online presence www.buchmesse.ARD.de, we will be streaming author talks live from the ARD Book Fair stage on all days. In addition to the live streams, the website offers backstage insights, portraits, book reviews and the new video podcast ‚What a Mess'. With all of these offerings, we want to reflect the diversity in the book market and help showcase the breadth of current issues."
Not affected by the decision are the events scheduled to take place as part of BOOKFEST city during the week of the fair (October 14-18, 2020). Of course, the same applies here: The health of all contributors and visitors* to BOOKFEST city has top priority. But it can be assured that all venues involved in BOOKFEST city comply with the currently applicable protective ordinances of the State of Hesse. The limitation of the number of participants allows the compliance with the distance rules.
For more info go to: https://www.buchmesse.en/
