2025 Leipzig Book Fair: Sensitive readers and challenging questions

This year, the Leipzig Book Fair again proved its popularity among German readers by drawing a record-breaking 296,000 visitors — 13,000 more than the previous year. This fact was especially beneficial for the sale of Ukrainian books translated into German, which were presented for the first time at this annual event at the fair’s Ukrainian stand.

Books and trends discussed at the Leipzig Book Fair, and how it looks from the Ukrainian gaze – read more in our report.

Ukrainian presence

Catching a Ukrainian author after a presentation is no easy feat. Every event ends with German readers lining up, eager to ask questions, share personal stories, and share hugs. While I’m waiting for Ukrainian poet and volunteer Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, readers are surrounding Ukrainian journalist and human rights activist Maksym Butkevych, who survived two years in Russian captivity, one of the most important guests at the stand. His book has just been published in German by Anthea Verlag.

“There is a genuine interest in complex topics here. People listen and want to engage in conversation after public events. I understand this as proof that the readings work,”

says Mikhalitsyna. 

We discussed a growing sensitivity among readers: the war is becoming closer and more personal, even for the German audience. This awareness is taking place at other venues — at the performances of Georgian authors, at the Romanian stand, at the presentation of a new book by Katya Petrovska, Berlin-based Ukrainian writer and winner of the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, which she wrote in German for German readers.

“The way the Russian invasion of Ukraine has changed all of us is a crucial question for my colleagues from Romania and Moldova,” says Moldovan journalist and publisher Paula Erizanu ahead of her talk. “We can clearly see that not only Ukraine, but also Moldova, Romania, Europe, and the United States have changed greatly during these three years of invasion. This is what I’m eager to explore in my conversation with Maksym Butkevych.”

The trends in Moldovan literature that Erizanu notices are close to Ukrainian readers, including interest in women’s stories and writings that help with understanding the Soviet Union’s colonial past. Moldovan authors also write about Ukraine, so one of Erizanu’s task at the Ukrainian stand is to find a partner publishing house to release future translations.

“Our stand partners are keen to make our stand a space for dialogue between Ukrainian and German authors. At almost every event, we discuss perspectives not only for Ukraine, but also for Germany and Europe as a whole,”

said Maria Shubchyk, Head of the Communications Department and Coordinator of Literature and Translation Promotion Projects at the Goethe-Institut Ukraine.

Shubchyk observed that some of last year’s participants at the Leipzig Book Fair received offers of cooperation from German publishers. That’s why it’s so important to keep going. As we speak, a line of readers has formed around Pavlo Kazarin’s books. It’s been growing for over 20 minutes. The presence of Ukrainian books in German at the fair holds significant meaning.

This demand was confirmed by Ukrainian translator and author Hanna Hnedkova, who was responsible for selling books at the Ukrainian stand. In total, more than 350 copies from 17 publishers were purchased. The most popular items were: “Blick auf Frauen” (Edition fotoTAPETA) (“War & Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War”) by Victoria Amelina; “Den Krieg übersetzen” (Edition fotoTAPETA) (anthology of Ukrainian poetry); “Am richtigen Platz” (Anthea Verlag) (“In the Right Place – A Ukrainian Peace Activist in the Time of War”) by Maksym Butkevych; “Der Wilde Westen Ost-Europas” (ibidem Press) (“The Wild West of Eastern Europe”) by Pavlo Kazarin; “Die längste Buchtour” (Droschl Verlag) (“The Longest Journey”) by Oksana Zabuzhko; and “Heller Weg” (ibidem Press) (“The Bright Path: The Story of a Concentration Camp”) by Stanislav Aseev.

“German publishers tend to be conservative as to the languages they choose to translate certain genres from. However, these biases can be shifted. Currently, there is a growing interest among German publishers in acquiring rights to Ukrainian war-related books, driven by the strong demand and readership for such topics. As soon as we manage to publish the first successful titles of Ukrainian genre literature in Germany — for example, by Max Kidruk — other authors of this genre will find their readers,” said Jakob Wunderwald, translator and doctoral student in Slavic studies at the University of Potsdam.

Currently, Wunderwald is completing the translation of a book by Ukrainian writer Ruslan Horovyi and will also be translating a fragment from the book “I See You’re Interested in Darkness” by Ilarion Pavliuk, a Ukrainian writer currently in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, for the Ukrainian book catalog.

Other important translations into German exhibited at the stand were presented by the Translit organization, including books by Olena Zakharchenko, Lyubko Deresh, Yevheniya Belorusets, Serhiy Zhadan, Marianna Kiyanovska, and Tamara Duda.

Challenging questions

Russian and Belarusian authors were quite active. In particular, the Leipzig Book Fair Prize was awarded to a Russian journalist Irina Rastorgueva for her book “Pop-up Propaganda. Epicrisis of the Russian Self-Poisoning,” published by Matthes & Seitz Berlin. Another prize, the European Understanding Prize, was awarded to Belarusian author Alhierd Bacharevic for his novel “Dogs of Europe.”

What was lacking in the exhibition were the voices of Georgia. Given that protests are still ongoing and the situation in the country has worsened, it’s challenging for independent Georgian authors and publishers to attend international events.

RELATED: News from Georgia

During the public discussion, Georgian historian Anna Margvelashvili said that with the current government harassment there (including the issuance of fake fines to activists, sending activists to detention centers, and general aggression against them — the most recent events include the beating of activist Elene Khoshtaria), Georgia could turn into a Belarus or Russia. Conversations about the fragility of democracy from the Georgian residents were especially relevant to the German audience, at least given the disappointing results of their elections, where the pro-Russian right is leading.

Visitors

The line-ups to the Book Fair entrance started from the Leipzig Messe train station, with hundreds of readers, cosplayers, authors, publishers (more than 2,000 of them from 45 countries), and especially schoolchildren who came in groups not only from the city but from across the Free State of Saxony. As in previous years, the book fair was accompanied by two major events between March 27 and 30. The first was the reading festival “Leipzig Liest,” which turned the entire city into an enlarged version of the Lviv Book Forum for several days. Book readings and discussions took place in various locations (2500 events in over 300 locations). The second was Manga Comic Con, one of the largest German manga and cosplay festivals.

Young people were a crucial element for both the number of visitors and the program (for example, a noteworthy highlight featured Norway as the Guest of Honor at the exhibition). One of the subdivisions of the fair’s program was called “Junge Stimmen” (Young Voices) and involved the promotion of works by debut authors. Among these books was the German bookstore bestseller “Good Girl” by Aria Aber (not to be confused with the movie of the same name starring Jennifer Aniston).

“There’s a noticeable number of Ukrainian teenagers among the visitors. Many are looking for something both for themselves and for their mothers,” said Ksenia Fuchs, Ukrainian writer and co-founder of the bilingual magazine Gel[:b]lau based in Stuttgart. “This highlights a gap in the Ukrainian selection at the fair — we need more young adult content.”

Among other audience favorites were German authors Sebastian Fitzek and Lena Kiefer, while the book that drew the most attention at the signing event was by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“While readers are drawn to well-known authors, they’re also eager to discover emerging voices. One such example is Oliver Lovrenski, whose debut novel achieved significant success in Norway two years ago,” said Margit Walsø, director of the Norwegian literary agency NORLA. “His work is now being translated into German and attracted considerable interest at this year’s Leipzig fair.”

It is worth mentioning that Lovrenski became the youngest author to receive the Norwegian Book Publishers’ Prize in 2023 (he was 20 at the time), and his debut novel sold 63,000 copies.

Traditionally, German readers have lined up for Norwegian noir writers: Øystein Wiik, Trude Teige, and Ingar Johnsrud. According to Walsø, the interest in big names and popular formats also attracts readers to more niche names and genres. Among such names is Sissel Horndal, an illustrator and writer who writes in the Sámi language (a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Indigenous Sámi peoples in parts of northern Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and based on Sámi folklore.

The focal topic of Norway’s presence, “Traum im Frühling” (Dream in Spring), also offered a political aspect.

“With our presence at the book fair, we wanted to emphasize that literature is the place where conversations begin, where new perspectives on the future arise. A crucial mission of literature today is to maintain a dialog, to build discussions with completely different visions. Literature enables democracy and freedom of expression,” Walsø said.

RELATED: Leipzig Fair: Stories of different reading realities

Images: Vira Dumke, Leipziger Buchmesse, Victoria Feshchuk

Translation: Iryna Saviuk

Copy editing: Ben Angel, Joy Tataryn