The first time at the book fair in Leipzig
From 17. to 20.03.2011 the book fair in Leipzig took place. Publishing my first book gave me the chance, to visit the fair as a trade visitor (Fachbesucher), what I did not want to miss. So I travelled to Leipzig on 19.03.2011.
About 8:30 am the train to Chemnitz departed, before that I had to walk to the main station for half an hour. In Niederwiesa we had to leave the train – rail replacement bus service! In Chemnitz I got the impression, I was not going to visit a fair, but carnival and felt frighteningly normal between all those dressed up people. The train to Leipzig was overfull, but lucky me got a seat and could give my feet a little longer a break. I had no difficulty in finding the way to the connecting train for I just had to follow the Cosplayers. Arriving at the fair grounds (about 11 am) I distanced from the mass, who went to the main entrance, and entered the fair very relaxed, whithout waiting for a long time and among "normal" people through the trade visitors entrance in the Congress Center. Yeah!
At first I had to look for my friend from the internet, with whom I wanted to visit the fair. We started our tour in hall Nb. 2, in the "crazy world of Anime.“ (quote: Bloody) Thow this hall was totally crowded, it was great there: so many Mangas, posters, ArtBooks and last but not least all this Cosplayers. It's like a miracle, that in this crowd I met a person I knew, my former teacher in Latin. In Germany we say: the world is a village.
I can't tell concretely where we went next - we went crisscross. And there was so much to discoveer, so many interesting publishers. There were also some appealing forums and clubs, to name some: 42er Autoren e. V., Garten der Poesie, Frieling-Verlag Berlin. We will see what develops in the future. Furthermore I got the chance to have a look into the "Frankfurter Bibliothek", because the Brentano-Gesellschaft had a stand as well. (a great feeling, though the book itself disappointed me a little bit) And of course I visited the stand of epubli, so my friend, who also wants to publish a book, could get some information. Unfortunately I missed the to authors, Ulrike Renk (Die Heilerin) and Sinje Blumenstein (Blutsuche), whom I wanted to meet at the fair.
I was also disappointed about the fair's bookshop. Not only were the books ordered in a curious way (by publishers), but I have also not found the one, I wanted to buy. And there was not a single book from the Engelsdorfer Verlag.
This was my first time at a book fair. Lots of impressions, which I had to assimilate. My feed ached in the evening and the bag with flyers and information brochures was quite heavy. It was a unique experience. Unique but not one-time. I will do it again, even though the day was really exhausting. At least I will not visit the fair on Saturday next time, that's for sure.
