Press Release: FEP “back together” at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Last year, at lunch time on the Thursday of Frankfurt Book Fair, FEP members and colleagues sat in their “home offices” as the annual Rendez-Vous of the Federation of European Publishers took place as an online-only event.

On 21 October 2021, FEP President Peter Kraus vom Cleff will be hosting the annual event in Room Harmonie, on the fair grounds. He will be joined by colleagues interested to hear what is happening in Europe. FEP will present a brief preview of the 2020 statistics which it will be publishing later in the year. FEP has also decided to highlight the wealth of innovation happening in the sector and has invited the winners of two competitions organised by its members.

The winners of CONTENTshift and Renew the Book will be able to showcase to the audience the reasons why they have been chosen as the most innovative start-ups. FEP cannot announce yet who will be coming from CONTENTshift, as the winner will be announced just moments before the Rendez Vous. CONTENTshift is a three-month funding programme geared towards startups active in the content industry and supported by Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, to make use of the synergies with startups and firmly anchoring innovations in the industry.

Renew the Book Award winner, Niels ‘t Hooft will present Immer App that won the prize as the most unique innovation of the edition. Renew the Book – the Innovation Award is an initiative of the General Publishers Group (GAU) of the Dutch Media Federatie.

Using the opportunity to meet at the world largest book fair, at the invitation of the IPA President Bodour Al Qasimi, Peter Kraus vom Cleff will sign the InSPIRe Charter (International Sustainable Publishing and Industry Resilience Plan) on behalf of European Publishers. From the first days of the Covid-19 crisis until today, FEP has stood with its members to support them and exchange best practices. FEP has also produced two reports which were helpful to many members to convince their governments of the necessity to actively support the book sector during this difficult period.

FEP President Peter Kraus vom Cleff said: "Publishing is a key industry for maintaining and strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and individual fulfilment. Our industry needs a fair framework and freedom of expression to continue to play this role."

The Federation of European Publishers represents 29 national publisher’s associations for books, learned journals and educational content, in all formats, in Europe. As the voice of European publishers, FEP is constantly working to improve the representation of the publishing sector at EU level while encouraging exchanges of best practices between European publishers.

The event will be held on 21 October 2021, from 12.30 till 14.30 (Raum Harmonie Section D&E – Congress Center).

You can now catch up some of the highlights of the event here