I’ve been to other book fairs before, but the one from Leipzig is by far the biggest concourse of people and books that I have ever seen. All those that visited the one in Frankfurt, asserted that the one in Leipzig is friendly, warm, and designed for both writers and public. I believe they are right. Maybe this is the reason why the Fiar is so colourful and so loved by the Germans that come here from all over Germany, especially during the weekend. To get to the Fair, one must have a 15 minutes journey from the centre of the town , either with the tram number 16 (that stops right in front of the central entrance) or by car. One thing is certain: this Fair functions as a magnet. People of all ages, extravagantly dressed teenagers, and women with babies a few months old mingle within the formicary that doesn’t seem to get tired. The parking lots around the covered markets are super- agglomerated. As far as the eye can reach, an endless field of cars stretches. In the first day, while looking at that sea of cars we could stop thinking that we might need to park the car in Dresda. However, it wasn’t necessary due to the proverbial German organisation. The first thing you can notice, when you enter the covered market, besides the futuristic air of the exhibition centre (a lot of aluminium and glass), is the manner in which the reading spaces are organised. Here and there, among the book stands, oasis of relaxation are set up- some 25 chairs and a table with microphones where writers from around the world go one after the other. Anyone that comes to the Fair can stop and relax, drink a coffee and listen to an author, if he thinks that author is captivating. I was very astonished to notice that there is an audience for each reading, and one that is attentive, curious and even address different questions to the authors that are invited to read. So that you can form a mental image of what Leipzig Book Fair is all about, I can tell you that this year 700 readings were organized at the Fair. Many of them were organised within the precincts of the Fair and others in the town’s centre, bars, institutions and galleries. This is how it come to pass, that the first night, when we got at the old centre, which I though resembles the Vienna centre like to drops of water, all those that passed me by looked familiar and I thought I saw them in the Fair a few hours before. I permanently had this sensation of familiarity during those three days of my visit in Leipzig.
As a writer, one must have the sentiment of being a grain of rice thrown into a deep sea, but instead of getting depressed, this is a reason of joy.
I collected hundreds of images of books, elegant bookstands and all sorts of characters with whom I interacted.
I cannot help mentioning the German that collects books, autographs on pictures (printed by himself) and on books of young writers from the East, especially. He is in his fifties. In the first instant when he handed me a pile of picture with me, taken two years ago during a reading in Vienna, I didn’t know what to think. Afterwards, I saw him every day: at the reading of a Croatian poet, of a Ukrainian one, at Lucian Dan Teodorovici’s reading, etc. He was carrying some bags stuffed with books and pictures. I believe his passion was to collect autographs in the hope that one of those he followed/ meat at some point, should become very famous…I envisage him as a weird gambler, whose passion are not the horse races, the dices and the roulette -he hopes to win one day.
