Czech Republic named Guest of Honour for Frankfurt Book Fair 2026

The Czech Republic has been selected as the Guest of Honour for the 78th Frankfurt Book Fair slated for 2026. The official announcement was made during a ceremony Monday in Prague.

“The Czech Republic’s appearance at the fair is a major opportunity for the Czech book industry and the country’s entire cultural sector. It’s not only a chance to present the high quality of Czech literature to the world, but also an investment in the future,” said Czech Minister of Culture Martin Baxa. 

Frankfurter Buchmesse Director Juergen Boos expressed his enthusiasm for the country’s chosen motto for the fair, “Czechia – A Country on the Coast,” considering the Czech Republic is landlocked. “It catches the eye, it stimulates the imagination – far beyond the literary motif of Bohemia by the Sea,” he said, according to a press release. 

Boos added that the exhibition will focus on “the cultural and literary perspective of a country located in the heart of Central Europe,” and will feature contemporary Czech authors such as Radka Denemarková, Jáchym Topol, and Kateřina Tučková.

The Czech Republic will also be represented at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, which runs from Oct. 18–22 October, and will feature 23 Czech publishing houses and various titles across different genres. 

The Guest of Honour programme at Frankfurter Buchmesse began in 1976 and aims to promote international literature by focusing on the book industry of the selected country. Each year, the initiative also encourages translations from the guest country into German and offers worldwide publishers an incentive to publish titles from the host nation. 

This year, Slovenia holds the honor, with previous countries including Spain, Italy, and the Philippines slated for 2024 and 2025 respectively.