Israeli participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair

Preparing the exhibit for the Israeli pavilion

The Israeli pavilion

The Frankfurt International Book Fair 2005 will take place between October 19 and 23. This year, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Israel and Germany, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israel Export Institute will be joining forces in the Israeli pavilion at the Book Fair. During the Book Fair, there will be an exhibition featuring a selection of drawings of Bible stories by children from around the world and a Bible inscription project. Literary events featuring leading Israeli authors and lecturers will be held at the International Center of the Book Fair, organized in conjunction with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The following Israeli publishers will be participating in the Book Fair:
 
The Jerusalem Publishing House (Gafni), Shocken, Israel Museum, Yediot Ahronot, Ministry of Defense, Dar Al Huda, Midreshet Morasha, Open University, Adam Institute, Saar,HaKibbutz HaMeuchad Publishing House, Am Oved, Kremerman Dictionaries, Astrolog, Bleicher-Barel, Gishrei-Tarbut, Kashtot and Hargol.

As in previous years, the Israeli pavilion will also include stalls of the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature and the Israel Export Institute. The Jerusalem Book Fair will also be represented.

The pavilion will also house a unique project named People of the World Inscribe the Bible. The project will give people the opportunity to inscribe a verse from the Bible in their own language. The Bible books, inscribed in all languages from around the world, will be displayed at the Bible Center to be established in the Adulam district, in Israel. All participants in the project will be awarded an official certificate. A computerized system will enable participants to discover other foreign language versions of the verse that they have inscribed together with the names of the writers, as well as inscribers of other verses.

Illustrations by Korean children: Jonah and the whale Samson Ruth

Children of the World Illustrate the Bible

The Book Fair will also present two exhibitions of paintings by children, as part of the Children of  the World Illustrate the Bible project. Among the exhibits selected are unique works by children from Korea - the guest of honor in Frankfurt this year.

There will be meetings with Israeli authors during the Book Fair, organized jointly by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the management of the Book Fair. The German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and author David Grossman will participate in the opening event, chaired by ZDF editor Petr Frei, on October 19.

An event on the subject of children's literature will take place on October 20. The meeting will feature Prof. Zohar Shavit and the writer Dorit Orgad from the Israeli side, as well as writer Miriam Pressler and expert on children's literature Winfred Kaminski from the German side. The event will be chaired by Christiana Brink from Die Zeit.

The event, Women Writers - Is There A Difference?, will be held on October 21. The meeting will feature writer Savyon Liebrecht, and will be chaired by Iris Radisch, a noted German literature critic.
There will also be an event featuring Yehoshua Sobol, titled The Writer's Role as the Conscience of the Nation. The meeting will take place on October 22 at 15:00, and will be chaired by Stefan Sattler, the editor of Focus Magazine.

A tribute to the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai will be held on Saturday October 22. The participants in the event will include poet Kristoff Mehkel, poet Paulus Bohmer and translator Lydia Bohmer. The meeting will be chaired by Thomas Sparr, from the Suhrkamp publishing company.