Germany by a staggering thirteen percent and germany is not the worst case so thats not exactly good news as the book world is gathering in frankfurt under a dark sky for its annual literary october first the book that. So lets have a look around that biggest cultural event lets meet authors and publishers from around the world ask them whats on their mind and lets check out some good new reads. But first up with all the alarming the town declining says lets see if the end of the book world is night or. Are the days of books numbered certainly not the frankfurt book for in fact more and more books are being published in ever shorter intervals. Its easy to feel overwhelmed by the choices but there are fewer bookshops and so less advice on what to choose readers are buying books online instead. Its a challenge in terms of visibility but its also an opportunity for Publishing Houses because we stand for quality products that we perfect in terms of content and design before publishing them that gives readers some orientation and guarantees them a certain quality. And quality is first. Swiss Publishing House kind and offers high quality paperbacks for their twenty Year Anniversary c. E. O. Pay to Hard Commission the german english serialized novel forty six novelists contributed five pages each. They were only part of one larger story that shows that the Publishing House and its books have something in common that they belong together. Thats the best thing a Publishing House could hopefull. Kind is like a big family which includes the readers at the book fair they can win a night stay in one of the publishers accommodation containers complete with a bedtime story read to them by an author. Writers up close and personal thats popular in frankfurt to the fair boasts numerous readings and book presentations. Events like these are increasingly important a live show for every kopek. Sophia hoffman is Food Blogging royalty with thousands of followers now shes written her very own cookbook the line between the blogosphere and books is blurring. You can write about timely things you can tap into Current Trends that makes it special with regard to cookbooks i can say that Publishing Houses are interested in this because it means they get a feel for whats fashionable. That way they can see which trends might get picked up in the print sector. The book market is changing audio books for all age groups are being published alongside regular printed editions its a real growth market. Revenue for childrens and young adult books is growing too. But publishers are also under pressure to constantly come up with new ideas. The latest concept is licensing deals with animation giant walt disney. We get film characters and other things that are displayed where our books are on sale. So people will become aware of our books in bookshops or in gas stations or in supermarkets because of certain film characters or film themes. Display. We think and we can see from sales figures that this lets us reach new target groups. And. For the fourth year an ebook prize will be awarded at the Frankfurt Book Fair although the ebook hype is dying down what counts is quality the prize honors layout and functionality which is especially important in nonfiction and Childrens Books survived its not enough for a Childrens Book to be animated with things like falling snowflakes it should also encourage reading it should read the text aloud while the corresponding lines are highlighted. New ideas are needed a start up from southern germany has developed a socalled book it has regular book pages with a twist when you touch the text or pictures you hear the respective sound. Who cares its not a litmus its a different experience when you touch paper and get an interactive response its unique and novel which makes it a special experience that hasnt existed before. While some complain about the demise of books this man is full of optimism. Hes even founded his own Publishing House. My first book focused on the what can i for a small region in germany thats really worth seeing now Publishing House wanted a book of this kind they didnt fancy the sort of craftsmanship so we decided to publish it ourselves. And the commercial success has proven him right this passionate photographers books are a hit with readers and clients one thing led to another our colleagues came to us and now were producing these wonderful books. The Frankfurt Book Fair is proving that reading hasnt gone out of style. From treasures for people your files to technological gimmicks the Publishing Industry is vibrant and above all ingenious. One of the hot topics among the literary crowd in frankfurt traditionally is awards like the noble prize that went to cuz you ishiguro this year not much debate about this compared to last years prize winner bob dylan. But. The renowned peace prize of the german book trade goes to legendary Canadian WriterMargaret Atwood this year a boy and doomsayer and a writer of dystopia as the new York Magazine describes. And thats a Good Opportunity to reread her canonical master the handmaids tale that should be definitely on your list. You can also follow atwood on twitter shes still very active there at Seventy Eight and youll be in company of one point seven five million atwood fans and now were going to meet the author of the german novel of the year the winner of the german book price. Me to go but menace are born and if you enter hes a passionate european who is credited with writing the first novel in which the e. U. Plays the main row its just been named this years winner of the german book prize. For admission to. Naturally im happy about it but i think every author wants recognition for their work and its efficacy. And anyone who claims he doesnt need it that it doesnt matter to him is lying of that im sure. His book is entitled the hope start on the capital and refers to brussels the control center of the european union. Minister spent four years that conducting research for his novel which shows that youre a kratz can make for wonderful fictional characters. In literary terms how did you go about transforming brussels this iraq receive this abstract power structure into a human story. Is it. This is comes in from the initial approach is quite simple working it all out isnt always so easy but starting is. You just have to assume that even though its an abstraction its one made by people. And you can tell a story about anything man made thats why i went to brussels for a closer look to see it concretely because it plays a role in it and has an impact on all our lives. His e. U. Cosmos is manmade and hysterically funny in manassas novel ambitious Civil Servants decide to give the e. U. Commissions battered image a make over its a bold venture. With which and humor manasseh writes about political power games narrow minded nationalism and about the need for peace in europe. Or a great pro european post nationalist as a writer do you think a book like yours can effect change. Do you know the fable about the sparrow that lies on its back with its legs severe. A cat comes walking by ordinarily it would eat the bird right away. But its intrigued by the way the sparrows lying there and asks animal of the skies why are you lying on the ground with your legs in the air the sparrow says im afraid the sky will fall down the cat says and you think you can prevent that with your fin little legs and the sparrow says its all i can do and you see im the sparrow. Theres at least a glimmer of hope hope that manasseh captures the mood of the e. U. At present with all its serious undertones and his books attracting attention worldwide Publishing Rights for the capital have already been sold in thirty five countries. What is your Favorite French author is it victor is it flow. Or is it michelle a while back. Is this years guest of honor at the book fair and is presenting itself in this pavilion and capsulated the whole literary spectrum of france and the francophone world. This world has changed and so has French Literature theres a whole generation of Young Authors telling stories of an unsettled nation on the move we met up with four of them. This city in east central france is often underrated once the heart of frances trade today leon and its suburbs are home to Many Companies in the pharmaceutical metal and electrical industries. Sophie d. V. D. Lives and works here her third novel is about a young unemployed journalist whos struggling to survive. And. I wanted to write a book about contemporary society in difficult Economic Times a theme that hasnt been handled much in literature its something that affects not only the lower classes but also the middle classes especially during this kind of vacuum between the end of someone studies and the time they get a real job this state of limbo can our last a decade and. Many young people in france are unemployed or underemployed a quarter of University Graduates dont have a steady job a year after finishing their degrees. Sophie diffusely knows the feeling shes experienced first hand the battles with authorities the poorly paid jobs and the endless waiting. To do it consumes your life thats whats so hard and the longer it lasts the harder it becomes with me it was over pretty quick but if it goes on for long you dont even want to vote or go out on your straight ahead. In her novel the female protagonist is qualified creative and stone broke how can you survive on forty euros for ten long days. No more moment no tripping. No norma who. Didnt know what. Her book called. The bad or when the devil comes out of the bathroom is a piece of biting social commentary yet its also brimming with humor and imagination. I hope people whove been through this will recognize themselves in saying finally a book thats about me. Our next stop is paris. Its not only france has Political Capital its also its capital of culture and a literary legend to boot. But paris is also still reeling from a string of terrorist attacks in recent years. One of the stars of the young French Literature scene is lady lesley money in twenty sixteen she won the play gone cool frances most prestigious literary award for her novel she also induce the book which comes out next year in english as lullaby starts with a horrific discovery. The baby is dead it took only a few seconds the dr offered assurance that it didnt suffer visit up the limp body found lying amongst the toys in a gray bag. The little girl however was still breathing when they got there. Its the story of a brutal child murder. It is very important in literature all childrens fairy tales are cruel terrible and unjust personally i like fairy tales a lot i wanted to write one but for the big kids for adults. Her fairy tale is about a stressed out family who hire a nanny for their children not an african though a french woman with the best of references but there are oblivious to her background and her awful life in one of the bad news of paris and sophie takes its course. The money gives readers a real feel for frances class asyut and lets these very different worlds collide. Mixing these two classes in the book automatically results in a kind of combat thats what interested me having them face off against one another. I think france is very very divided and whats even more disconcerting is that these two frances never encountered each other. The French Society is split and not just since the last elections many fear that president emmanuel macaws new reforms will drive even more people into the arms of the right wing populist one as you know or National Front in his semi autobiographical novel the end of any young writer it while doing describes the violence and the desperation of life in a french factory town. The book deals with racism homophobia poverty and people who feel the politicians dont respect them. Today when people speak of france they dont mean my parents they dont mean the working class there was a very profound sense of injustice that i felt early on which pushed me to write i felt it not only in politics but in literature too thats to say there was a kind of invisibility more than that a violent kind of exclusion because people didnt know that the folks i described in my books even exist. Or exist. Paris plaster the public francis founding values liberty equality and fraternity are celebrated here. Its also the starting point for a while luis second novel history of violence here he once again tells his own story. He invites a young algerian to come home with him. The stranger then rapes and almost kills him. The book explores how violence is generated passed on and multiplied in a xena phobic and homophobic society. That its this multiplicity of violence that im trying to track because the politicians arent doing it so its up. Literature or other people to do it and thats what im trying to do. In its many facets contemporary French Literature reflects the shifts and tensions felt in present day france but it also opens up new horizons. After all there are authors from several continents writing in french. One of the most exciting of these voices is guy f. A. He was born in burundi in one thousand nine hundred two but fled to france as a teenager to escape the civil war between the hutus and tutsis. So it all. Just. For. Us. Gay f. A. A. Is a musician and now lives in rwanda his homeland of burundi is a frequent theme in his songs but at some point he felt the need to write the story of his Little Country down on paper pay as a search for the lost paradise of his childhood. Unfortunately when i arrived in france at the age of thirteen all i remembered about it was the two years of war i just lived through. But country where i was born and where id grown up now had an odor of blood and gunpowder. I wanted to rediscover the sense of mangoes and the scent of the gardens that were there before the war. So while fayed does write about the bloody conflicts the murders that take place between the hutus and tutsis who are sworn enemies and eventually force his protagonist into exile he also writes about his childhood in burundi about everyday life before the violence erupted. In france pain was a bestseller and won several major book prizes. For the really kind of freaks. I believe this also helps young rwandans young burundis understand that they dont have to write stories about elsewhere for the world to take an interest. In the success of my novel shows that the best means of touching a universal nerve is to talk about yourself. And thats what i try to tell Young Students take up your pens and paper and write down your stories. In. The book there is a huge buzz the Worlds LargestTrading Center for rights and licenses hundreds of agents from all over the world have their appointment diaries filled to bursting in frankfurt and publishers from all over the world are here takes a go books one of the most distinguished Publishing Houses in india based in calcutta and london with a focus on european literature. I think a shot found a director of cigar books in a country like india with one point three billion people and more than twenty official languages where do german or european books german or european literature find their readers first of all the european literature as i like to call it. Is no new. Its been a real candidate at the moment over the last ten years this is true but when i was growing up in the late sixtys and seventys you could actually get european translation wonderful literature on the sidewalks when they disappeared because you know a certain kind of person took over publish when numbers mattered. After a gap of thirty years again in the country you were beginning to relive slowly interest in european literature and to jump a little i now find through my distributors reports that socalled small time in the outside the metropolitans it is amazing i mean we can actually pinpoint who is reading theres a growing middle class in india that does all the ground theres always been a growing middle class of india with a great book or a guess but when the guardian does story on retail it india has a lot of growing middle class one point three billion fantastic good reading what are they really living in a certain region of india thats all thats available the world to disappear we are trying desperately slowly to bring that. Thats interesting and for that also you regularly travel to the frank a book fair what do you hope to find here frank for when as an indian long published the frankfurt so most important thing is that sense of community and the daily news that. The figure comes meaningless we come to put a face to each other again and again the deals happen. Custody is happening but the reason happens because were in touch with each other anyway what german authors do interest you at the most in the moment we just saw a robot manasseh which is one of you authors as well as getting the german book price right so what names are horse or you would do the same with us is that using pot implies a certain seeking for the dog to success when people ask me who is it all get over here i dont actually have a response my dog audience is me as a target reader my colleagues as target readers if it rings a bell right if we start my heads become like a church thats when we say ok we love those good old christophe transpire i mean hes like. Because we discovered through ensberg over the deity of her dad who always says to us that we dont know how you do this why do you care to publish we will nobody is obviously buying them in america and so while i grew up reading you were not such a pleasure to have my revenge by publishing your if we talk about indian literature in germany you would think of brand names like our own dr roy. I didnt help us with what is beyond these full names names is there anything we should get when you know its always thing this language is writing this that the common girl not that theyre undeserving with but when youre see musically as independent german publishers want to discover you have to do the detective work of finding out the many indias that exist in the language. And of course there are certain languages which are difficult to translate the principal language in with it in leaving only one elevator but out you can find a translator theres a picture of my suggestion always is look to the language. That nobody says thank you very much thank you and to never think of it thank you to me thank you. Frankfurt book fair thats more than seven thousand exhibitors from one hundred countries three hundred thousand visitors one thousand writers and books got a lot now get a good book and start reading at least thats what im going to do right now see you next week and ill try to watch. Shes long been a symbol of hope in syria trying to help people. I saw she stand for change for the false facade of her husbands rule of terror. She believes in what projection that they are saving syria. The beautiful face of the dictatorship. Fifty. On the vast steps of central asia and expect dition in search of an ancient denizen of kazakhstan the saigon antelope. Scientists found evidence of a mysterious catastrophe what killed so many of them and are those that are alive endangered. Psychos in distress find out more in our interactive internet documentary and dot com psych us. Take a trip to a world of boundless ambition. Meet young entrepreneurs eager to tackle global challenges. Join flitch of thats not german entrepreneur award winner two thousand and fifteen as he travels through asia looking for the next big business idea. Our ten part series founders valley starting october twenty third on d w. My wifes family. From my julia somebody. I know. The best so know were an international brand. A shared passion. F. C. Byron munich to truly understand whole new history irks. Me as some young. Yes me yes some you dont see kind of you cant touch us with violets and by. An exclusive journey the son of my own munich. Has a new its a kind of culture to walk we are who we are not suppose for what we are were a family unbelievable. To be a son mia phenomenon starting october fifteenth on d w. This is the news live from berlin austria looks set for a swing to the right immigration is a voters minds today as they head to the polls in National Elections thirty one year old sebastian could could become europes youngest data