Frankfurter Buchmesse 2026: Czechia is guest of honour, "a country on the coast"

On Wednesday 7 October the Frankfurter Buchmesse opens in Frankfurt, and it runs until Sunday 11 October. According to the Austrian booksellers' association HVB, the fair is still regarded as the world's most important platform for new books and for the trade in rights and licences. According to the HVB, some 300,000 visitors are expected, along with more than 4,000 exhibitors from over 130 countries.

Czechia, "a country on the coast"

This year's guest of honour is Czechia. The country comes under the motto "Ein Land an der Küste", a country on the coast: a wink, writes the HVB, at the fact that Czechia has no coast at all. The architecture firm JinJan designed the pavilion, under the title "An den Grenzen der Vorstellungskraft", at the limits of the imagination. Some 75 Czech authors are travelling to Frankfurt and will fill two stages of their own on all five days of the fair. According to the HVB, the programme rests on three pillars: strong voices on socially charged topics, diversity in the visual arts, and dialogue between authors and the trade.

A new layout

The fair is responding to growing crowds with a revised layout of its halls. Exhibitors aimed at the public, including many publishers, will now be on the ground floor of halls 3, 4, 5 and 6 around the Agora. Exhibitors for the trade are moving to the upper floors. Each hall gets its own stage. In the middle of the Agora there will also be a new meeting point with seating cubes in 14 languages.