Review Guest of Honour 2007 Catalan Culture
Simone Bühler
T +49 (0) 69 2102-249
buehler@book-fair.com
Review Guest of Honour 2007 Catalan Culture
The Guest of Honour presentation of Catalan Culture at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2007 ended as a great success.
The both unique and open-minded language region introduced itself with over 50 new publications of works by Catalan authors in translation, around 370 events in Frankfurt and in 80 other German towns, as well as with 132 exhibitors and publishing companies on the Catalan collective stand.
Numerous Catalan authors and intellectuals presented the literary worlds of the language region in the course of a varied and professional programme of readings and discussions at the exhibition site and in Frankfurt’s Literaturhaus – extending from the urban landscapes of a Quim Monzó through the Majorca of Baltasar Porcel to the rural settings of Jaume Cabré, Maria Barbal and Carles Porta.
The Catalan language was at the heart of the presentation, spoken by over nine million people worldwide, and yet many Book Fair guests were unaware of its existence. But that has changed, with around 30,000 visitors embarking on a voyage of discovery in the central exhibition area in the Forum, Level 1, from where they could develop their own feeling for Catalan Culture.
There was lively activity on the big collective stand of the Catalan publishers’ associations and cultural institutions as well as on the individual publishing company stands from the region which, with its capital of Barcelona, represents the centre of the Spanish-speaking publishing industry.
At the weekend, those more interested in the region’s folklore were able to admire the breathtaking human pyramids, some towering up to seven levels.
Not just at the exhibition site, but all over Frankfurt throughout the Fair, Catalan Culture gave people the opportunity to discover the diversity of the region. Over 3,000 music fans came to the Bockenheim Depot for the Sónar Nits, the legendary Catalan festival of innovative music. More than 30 events took place in Frankfurt during the Fair, with contributions from more than 900 artists, dancers, musicians and literary figures. Some of the exhibitions at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, the Frankfurter Kunstverein, the Museum für Kommunikation, the Deutsches Architekturmuseum and the Fotografie Forum international, as well as a film programme at the Deutsches Filmmuseum, continue on through to the beginning of 2008.
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