Hungary would start with a clean slate at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair

Hungary is welcoming visitors with a revamped stand and a new international catalog at the 78th Frankfurt Book Fair, which opened today, according to information provided to Telex by the Ministry of Social Relations and Culture, which is responsible for the professional content and conceptual design of Hungary’s presence at the event. In response to a question from our paper, the ministry wrote that the Hungarian presence focuses on the international presentation of contemporary Hungarian literature and Hungarian children’s literature, as well as on building relationships between Hungarian book publishers and their foreign partners.

This year’s concept for the Hungarian booth is based on the idea of “tabula rasa—a clean slate.” According to the ministry, “the motto is a reference to both the country’s renewal and the new cultural policy supporting diversity, as well as to the effort to help Hungarian literature find new connections and opportunities in the international book market.”

Hungary is presenting works selected for an international audience in two publications at the fair. The catalog of fiction, titled “New Hungarian Fiction: Autumn 2026”, features ten books, while the children’s literature catalog, “New Hungarian Childlit 2026”, features twelve. This year, the Hungarian stand will be showcasing the 22 books from these two catalogs, as well as seven works by Nobel Prize laureate László Krasznahorkai—published in Hungarian and seven different foreign languages—as well as seven works by the recently deceased Péter Nádas—published in Hungarian and three foreign languages.

According to the ministry, the aforementioned “tabula rasa” concept is also reflected in the design of the stand. In the “clean, minimalist design, (...) the selected books are displayed on individual pedestals. In this visual environment, any element that might distract attention from the selected literary works is deliberately kept in the background.”

We also wanted to know whether visitors to the Hungarian stand would receive promotional items, such as bookmarks, pins, or postcards. “At the Frankfurt Book Fair, the focus is on literature: instead of promotional items, the organizers wanted to make literature itself something visitors could take home. For this reason, instead of promotional giveaways, visitors to the stand will find tear-off information sheets containing excerpts from Hungarian literary works and English-language information necessary for copyright sales abroad,” the ministry wrote in its response.

As some may recall: last year, Telex readers who visited the venue expressed their indignation in letters, noting that while László Krasznahorkai was promoted with nothing more than a single A4 sheet at the Hungarian stand, elsewhere at the fair, the author, who had just won the Nobel Prize in Literature was featured on a LED display.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is one of the most important events in the book trade and book culture. This year's event opened today and will run through Sunday. The world’s largest book fair, which has been held in its current form since 1949, traditionally offers publishers, authors, and readers an opportunity to connect, with the German Book Prize also being traditionally awarded here each year.