Poland at the Frankfurt Book Fair for the 25th time

The Frankfurt Book Fair combines industry and festival formats and annually hosts over 4,000 exhibitors from around the world. In 2024, the event attracted 230,000 visitors, including more than 7,500 media representatives, and featured publishers and institutions from 92 countries. The first two days of the Frankfurter Buchmesse are reserved exclusively for publishing professionals, while over the weekend the fair opens its doors to the general public.

This year, the Polish stand — covering an area of 200 m² — will premiere a new design by Brokat, an architectural and jewelry studio from Katowice. Most of the materials used, including the furniture, come from Polish manufacturers, creating a cozy space designed for comfortable communication. The stand will showcase a selection of the best Polish books published in the past twelve months, as well as works from Polish publishers participating in this year’s edition of the Fair. For foreign publishers and translators, we have prepared two catalogues: ‘New Books from Poland 2025’ and ‘New Books from Poland 2025. Poetry’ (more information about the catalogues can be found here).

As every year in Frankfurt, we will also present the activities of the Book Institute, including our flagship ©Poland Translation Programme, addressed to both foreign and Polish publishers of Polish literature in translation.

On Wednesday afternoon, our stand will host participants of the Special Program for Publishers from Ukraine and neighbouring countries. This initiative is aimed at fostering professional connections and is designed for publishers, editors, and literary agents from Armenia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

For the first time this year, our stand will also feature the Buchbund bookstore, where visitors will be able to purchase books by Polish authors in both Polish and German. The bookstore will open on Friday afternoon, coinciding with the fair’s opening to the wider public.

A number of 48 exhibitors will present their offerings at the Polish collective stand: Agora, AWM – Morex, Bosz, Czarna Owca, Czarne, Dressler, Druganoga, DT Agency, Dwie Siostry, Edgard, Fundacja Fabryka Inspiracji.pl, Glossa, Grupa Relacja – Mamania, Grupa Zaczytani.pl, GW Foksal, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, Jagielloński Instytut Wydawniczy, Karakter, Literatura, Mamy dla mamy, Marginesy, Media Rodzina, Muchomor, Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawie, Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, Nasza Księgarnia, NCK, Panko Paweł Kopijer, Pinus Media, Poradnia K, PROLOG Publishing, Publicat, PWM Editions, Rebis, Supermemo, Tajfuny, Tatarak, Timoff i cisi wspólnicy, Warsaw International Book Fair, Widnokrąg, WUJ, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Wydawnictwo Święty Wojciech, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Adam Mickiewicza, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Zielona Sowa, and Znak.

Plakat polskiej prezentacji we Frankfurcie w 2000 roku

This year’s edition of the Frankfurter Buchmesse also marks an important anniversary for the Book Institute — twenty-five years ago, Poland was the fair’s Guest of Honour. In the late 1990s, professional promotion of Polish culture abroad was still in its infancy. To prepare the Polish presentation in Frankfurt, the ‘Polska2000’ Literary Team was established in Kraków, led by Albrecht Lempp — a German Slavist, translator, and expert on Polish literature, who also had organizational experience as a staff member of the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt. Poland’s appearance in Frankfurt proved a great success: it led to the publication of many significant works of Polish literature abroad and laid the foundations for the systematic promotion of Polish authors and literature worldwide.

The Book Institute officially started its operations on January 11, 2004 — shortly after the Frankfurt event — but it was those earlier experiences that enabled us to promote Polish literature internationally so effectively.

This year’s Guest of Honour is the Philippines. The Fair will close on Sunday, October 19.