Frankfurt book fair opens to "define future book world"

FRANKFURT, Germany, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- The renowned Frankfurt Book Fair opened its 2009 edition on Tuesday, saying its goal was to "define the future landscape of the book world."

The fair, to last till Sunday, has drawn more than 400,000 titles of books from more than 100 countries and attracted 180,000 booksellers and dealers. Of the books on display, 120,000 are new releases.

This year's fair also hosted the largest gathering of children's book specialists and the largest collection of cookery books.

The Frankfurt Book Fair has added for the first time as diversity a Creative Industries and a Gourmet Gallery showcase to provide visitors with greater variety.

Dr. Gottfried Honnefelder, president of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, said this year's fair would define the future landscape of the book world.

Honnefelder said the main topics of discussion at the book fair would center on copyrights, open access, the Google Book Settlement and copy protection.

Director of the Frankfurt Book Fair Juergen Boos said at the opening: "The industry is going through a time of change, characterized by the Internet and digitization."

He added that about 90 percent of the Europeans regularly go online and 95 percent of young Germans cannot imagine a life without the Internet.

The book fair director also said the fair would accelerate the openness of the birthplace of print and paper of China, which is the Guest of Honor at this year's book fair.