Budapest in
Blossom
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (MAY 2002)
The
9th International Budapest Book Festival was
bursting at the seams this year, with 600 publishers
jammed into the Budapest Convention Centre from April
18-21. As some 60,000 visitors browsed 40,000 books
on display, it’s no wonder that the punchy fair organizers
— those being the Hungarian Publishers’ and Booksellers’
Association in partnership with the Frankfurt
Book Fair — were already said to be scouting a larger
venue for next year. If Hungarian President Ferenc
Madl has his way, anyway, the fair should keep blooming.
Madl used the fair’s opening to tout Hungary’s bid for
European Union status, proudly noting “the recent successes
of Hungarian literature abroad” and adding that Hungary
“can thus enter the new Europe of nations as a language
community” whose written word can stand on its own.
(Hungary is one of 10 nations from the former Soviet
bloc expected to gain EU status in 2004.)
Also abloom at the fair was the European First Novel
Festival, which aims to offer young European literary
talents a regular venue to introduce their works (and,
of course, get a shot at new translations and publications).
This year the invited first novelists included 18-year-old
French writer Anne-Sophie Brasme, whose Breathe
tells of a perverse complicity between two teenage girls.
Another debut novelist was Annette Pehnt, a 35-year-old
writer based in Freiburg, whose I Must Be Off
is said to paint “an urban picture of marginalized individuals”
in three-page chapters (it’s been compared with Madeleine
St. John’s The Essence of Things). And the
UK’s Rajeev Balasubramanyam was a pick for his
work In Beautiful Disguises (it’s published in
the US by Bloomsbury USA).
Though Hungary is a limited market (initial print runs
are around 3,000 copies, and retail prices are much
behind the western standard), the German presence was
noticeably stronger this year, as was that of Italy,
which, as the fest’s invited country, showcased major
houses Feltrinelli, Einaudi, Mondadori,
and others, plus authors such as Cesare Garboli,
Claudio Magris, and Gabriella d’Ina. Many
other nations offered new titles, mainly for co-printing,
and more foreign agents were also seen working the stands
this year. Since appointments are typically made during
the festival, you can decide at the last minute to visit
Budapest, and still do plenty of wheeling and dealing.
We
thank Judit Hermann,
Director of Andrew Nurnberg Associates in Budapest,
for her contribution to this report.
©2002
Publishing Trends
