Quo vadis ars?
The situation in the cultural sector has been
described and discussed in numerous interviews, corona diaries,
comments and reports in the past few weeks. Our annotated
collection
of currently 193 sources
gathers voices from different sectors and media.
This creates a picture of the cultural landscape in crisis,
whose temporal transformation can be explored interactively
via a dedicated
tag cloud.
Leipziger Buchmesse abgesagt
Leipzig Book Fair canceled
by Martin Hoferick (29 Jan 2021)
Original source: Kulturzeit
A major event is currently hardly plannable and so it is not surprising that the director of the Leipzig Book Fair, Oliver Zille, announced this week with a heavy heart the cancellation of this year's fair. Precisely because Leipzig relies on so many forms of encounter, the fair is hardly safe to hold this year. A shift to the digital is out of question for the organizers, because here the personal encounter as a central element of the Leipzig fair cannot be adequately implemented. The format itself will definitely be retained in the coming years, the situation on th e book market is good despite the cancellation. Nevertheless, Andreas Rötzer from the publishing house Matthes und Seitz demands that support for the industry must be considered if other major events are cancelled in the course of the year. A vaccination center will now be set up in the exhibition halls this far.
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tag Buchmesse Buchbranche Digitalisierung Begegnung Großveranstaltungen Literature/ Text Bericht
Frankfurter Buchmesse: Was ist das Buch ohne die Menschen?
Frankfurt Book Fair: What would books be without people?
by Felix Stephan (17 Oct 2020)
Original source: Süddeutsche Zeitung
How do you measure the social value of a book? How do you recognize the importance of the Frankfurt Book Fair? Felix Stephan examines these questions based on the debates triggered by the recent Book Fair. Based on Saša Stanišić critique of the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Peter Handke formulated in occasion of his acceptance speech at the awarding ceremony of the German Book Prize, Stephan shows how debates evolve. Suddenly it was no longer about the text itself, but about the foreign secretary Hans-Dietrich Genscher and the role of the Germans in the K osovo war. Such debates are important because they determine the social climate and encourage critical thinking. The starting point is the written text, but it needs the public forum of the Book Fair to unfold its potential.
Such debates cannot arise in the medial silence of the digital book fair. Nevertheless: the book as a commodity is attractive. Even though the Fair is largely taking place online this year, the publishers are not doing badly. The pandemic tempts people to read. In the area of children's and youth literature, sales figures have even risen by 13 percent compared to the same period last year. The large publishing houses are already starting to think about whether a physical stand at the Book Fair is still worthwhile. Expenditure is high, but it is difficult to quantify the successes. The licensing business does not need the fair. So why not decouple the book industry from the public? The example of America shows how profits fizzle out in a vacuum when the book is seen only as a commodity and even mega-bestsellers like Michel Obama's autobiography no longer trigger discussion. According to Felix Stephan, not only would the book lose its role as a leading medium, but our public sphere would lose an important forum for its culture of debate. Read More Read Less
Such debates cannot arise in the medial silence of the digital book fair. Nevertheless: the book as a commodity is attractive. Even though the Fair is largely taking place online this year, the publishers are not doing badly. The pandemic tempts people to read. In the area of children's and youth literature, sales figures have even risen by 13 percent compared to the same period last year. The large publishing houses are already starting to think about whether a physical stand at the Book Fair is still worthwhile. Expenditure is high, but it is difficult to quantify the successes. The licensing business does not need the fair. So why not decouple the book industry from the public? The example of America shows how profits fizzle out in a vacuum when the book is seen only as a commodity and even mega-bestsellers like Michel Obama's autobiography no longer trigger discussion. According to Felix Stephan, not only would the book lose its role as a leading medium, but our public sphere would lose an important forum for its culture of debate. Read More Read Less
tag Buchbranche Buchmesse Leitmedium Debattenkultur Einsparpotential digitale Stille Literature/ Text Bericht
Louise Glück wird dem Handel nicht helfen können . Literaturnobelpreis und der Buchmarkt
Louise Glück will not be able to help the trade . Nobel Prize for Literature and the Book Market
by Gerrit Bartels (08 Oct 2020)
Original source: taz
With the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy of Sciences heralds the autumn of books. In the week before the opening of the Book Fair, the market gets a first boost from the interest in the prize-winning works. By awarding the 2020 Prize to Louise Glück, the Nobel Commission has set a double signal: on the one hand, it insists on the sovereignty of interpretation in matters of literary merit, and on the other, it sets a political signal - as the few photographs show Louise Glück at the awarding of the National Human ities Medal by Barack Obama in 2016.
This double symbolic act is hitting the book trade hard. This year there is no boost, which is not only shifted by the attention paid to the award-winning author, but also meets authors in their environment. The two volumes of Louise Glück, translated into German, are out of print. No shop window can be decorated with them. No other poetry volumes can be advertised with them. They cannot compensate for the twenty to thirty percent drop in sales that bookstores and publishers have to cope with in the Corona year. The Book Fair as a visitor magnet and marketing instrument is also largely absent this year. So the publishers can only hope for the Christmas business. At a time when books are needed more than ever, this is a bitter pill to swallow. Read More Read Less
This double symbolic act is hitting the book trade hard. This year there is no boost, which is not only shifted by the attention paid to the award-winning author, but also meets authors in their environment. The two volumes of Louise Glück, translated into German, are out of print. No shop window can be decorated with them. No other poetry volumes can be advertised with them. They cannot compensate for the twenty to thirty percent drop in sales that bookstores and publishers have to cope with in the Corona year. The Book Fair as a visitor magnet and marketing instrument is also largely absent this year. So the publishers can only hope for the Christmas business. At a time when books are needed more than ever, this is a bitter pill to swallow. Read More Read Less
tag Buchmarkt Buchmesse Umsatzeinbruch Lyrik Nobelpreis Louise Glück Literature/ Text Bericht
Buchhandel setzt auf Digitalpräsenz . Frankfurter Buchmesse ohne Aussteller
Book trade focuses on digital presence . Frankfurt Book Fair without exhibitors
by Alexander Skipis, Britta Bürger (08 Sep 2020)
Original source: Deutschlandfunk Kultur
At a press conference, the director of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Juergen Boos, announced the cancellation of the presence fair in the exhibition halls in Frankfurt. The decision was made together with all publishers and representatives of the national booths. In the end, the restrictions, especially the travel restrictions, were too great to adhere to the presence event.
The fair is an important pillar for the book industry. Since a digital offering was also planned from the outset, Alexander Skipis, General Manager of the German Publishers & Booksellers Associ ation (Börsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels), assumes that the presence of books will be maintained. As before, there will also be physical events in Frankfurt where authors can be experienced live.
As a further mainstay, a digital rights trading platform will enable publishers to handle the rights business, which has been important at the fair to date. However, personal exchange will not be possible at this point.
Another important pillar of the Book Fair is intellectual exchange and freedom of opinion and the press. These topics will also be dealt with online and in face-to-face events. Such online offerings will certainly not reach as many readers as a presence fair. The intensive encounter will therefore play a major role in 2021.
The fair is an important pillar for the book industry. Since a digital offering was also planned from the outset, Alexander Skipis, General Manager of the German Publishers & Booksellers Associ ation (Börsenverein des deutschen Buchhandels), assumes that the presence of books will be maintained. As before, there will also be physical events in Frankfurt where authors can be experienced live.
As a further mainstay, a digital rights trading platform will enable publishers to handle the rights business, which has been important at the fair to date. However, personal exchange will not be possible at this point.
Another important pillar of the Book Fair is intellectual exchange and freedom of opinion and the press. These topics will also be dealt with online and in face-to-face events. Such online offerings will certainly not reach as many readers as a presence fair. The intensive encounter will therefore play a major role in 2021.
There will be a series of physical events in Frankfurt. In addition to the award ceremonies - Book Prize and Peace Prize - there will be readings in the festival hall. They will be distributed simultaneously through the media and can be accessed worldwide. Nevertheless, it should not be overlooked that the lack of attention to the book will damage the book market. Sales will probably not really be satisfactory in the autumn of 2020 either.
Read More Read Lesstag Buchbranche Buchmesse Frankfurt Lesung Alexander Skipis virtuelles Angebot Literature/ Text Interview
Die Buchbranche leidet und macht Verluste . Ein Virus namens Angst greift um sich
The book industry suffers and makes losses . A virus called anxiety is spreading
by Paul Jandl (17 Jul 2020)
Original source: Neue Züricher Zeitung
Even before the crisis, things did not look bright in the book industry. In recent years, the number of people who regularly buy a book has fallen steadily. The Corona crisis, during which many switched to other media and Amazon preferred to deliver toilet paper instead of books, reinforced this trend. At the end of May, the industry recorded a loss of 17.5 percent compared to the previous year. And so many publishers are reacting with a cost-cutting programme.
Just how hard the industry is struggling with its reinvention was shown by the squabbles surrounding the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Many publishing companies have since cancelled their participation after the people in charge decided very early on to hold the Fair with an alternative concept. In Frankfurt, for example, people are now thinking about transforming the industry meeting into a creative festival where, besides literature, music, pop and gaming are also present. At the moment it is to be feared that anxiety is causing much more damage in the industry than the virus. Read More Read Less
Just how hard the industry is struggling with its reinvention was shown by the squabbles surrounding the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. Many publishing companies have since cancelled their participation after the people in charge decided very early on to hold the Fair with an alternative concept. In Frankfurt, for example, people are now thinking about transforming the industry meeting into a creative festival where, besides literature, music, pop and gaming are also present. At the moment it is to be feared that anxiety is causing much more damage in the industry than the virus. Read More Read Less
tag Buchbranche Buchmesse Neustart Kultur Umsatzeinbruch zweiter Frühling Literature/ Text Bericht
War’s das mit dem Wumms? . Aktionsplan und Stellungnahme des Netzwerk Autorenrechte (NAR) zum Konjunkturpaket „NEUSTART KULTUR“
That's it with the oomph? . Action plan and statement of the Network of Authors' Rights (NAR) on the economic stimulus package "NEW START CULTURE"
by Netzwerk Autorenrechte (05 Jun 2020)
Original source: Netzwerk Autorenrechte
The economic stimulus package passed by the federal government provides hardly any subsidies for the book sector. The Network of Authors' Rights (NAR) is calling for improvements in this respect so that authors and translators are not pushed into social welfare (Hartz IV). Various funding possibilities are outlined and the importance of literature not only as a source of knowledge and education, but also as an economic factor is pointed out.
tag Buchbranche Konjunkturpaket Hartz IV Literature/ Text Statement
Schwer zu lesen . Keine Messe, kein Amazon, keine Aufmerksamkeit: Corona hat den Buchmarkt hart getroffen.
Difficult to read . No trade fair, no Amazon, no attention: Corona hit the book market severely
by Christoph Schröder (12 May 2020)
Original source: Die Zeit
tag Buchbranche Verlage Buchmesse Herbstprogramm Umsatzeinbruch Jo Lendle Grusche Juncker Andreas Rötzer Literature/ Text Bericht
Es gibt sie, wie bald Martin Meyers Erzählung »Corona«, es gibt sie nicht . Der Hype um die Corona-Literatur
It exists, as soon Martin Meyer's novel . The Hype around Corona Literature
by Gerrit Bartels (06 May 2020)
Original source: Tagesspiegel
Do you want to read a Corona novel now? This is the question posed by literary critic Gerrit Bartels in the taz. For two months, one could hardly escape the subject of Corona, and he can hardly imagine enjoying it now in literary adaptation. Especially since the plot of Martin Meyer's story "Corona" promises little that is new. After all, the old bookseller Matteo helps himself in quarantine by reading epidemic literature, as thrashed out by the feuilletons in recent weeks.
The publication of the story prompts Bartels to ask some publishers whether a Corona novel is already planned for the fall, or whether an author has announced that he or she will work on one. Klett-Cotta, Luchterhand, and Kiepenheuer & Witsch have no plans for corona novels. Either they had no corresponding manuscripts on the table or they were afraid they would be outdated by the time they were published. Only the author Joachim Lottmann is writing a current novel on the subject, according to information from KiWi, but it will not be published this year.
Doesn't it take some time to reflect on the topic? With a view to 9/11, he notes that the really good novels on the subject needed a distance of several years. But it doesn't necessarily have to be the case that Corona has to be at the center of a novel. It can also change a narrative being out of focus - as well as the quality criteria of the readers. Read More Read Less
The publication of the story prompts Bartels to ask some publishers whether a Corona novel is already planned for the fall, or whether an author has announced that he or she will work on one. Klett-Cotta, Luchterhand, and Kiepenheuer & Witsch have no plans for corona novels. Either they had no corresponding manuscripts on the table or they were afraid they would be outdated by the time they were published. Only the author Joachim Lottmann is writing a current novel on the subject, according to information from KiWi, but it will not be published this year.
Doesn't it take some time to reflect on the topic? With a view to 9/11, he notes that the really good novels on the subject needed a distance of several years. But it doesn't necessarily have to be the case that Corona has to be at the center of a novel. It can also change a narrative being out of focus - as well as the quality criteria of the readers. Read More Read Less
tag Corona-Roman Seuchenliteratur Qualitätskriterien Martin Meyer Joachim Lottmann 9/11 Literature/ Text Interview
Ohne Lesungen, Publikum und Geld . Literarische Debüts in Zeiten von Corona
Without readings, audience and money . Making literary debuts in the times of Corona
by Kristine Harthauer (06 Apr 2020)
Original source: SWR 2
Authors finance themselves primarily through readings. If these were canceled due to the corona pandemic, it is a financial loss. However, the debutants are particularly affected. Since they do not yet have a regular readership, they are now barely able to find a place on the market. With online offers, you can only reach those you already know.
