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'A renaissance for printed words' ends in success

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October 24, 2000 

FRANKFURT (AP) - The world largest book and publishing convention offered a near record repertoire of more than 300,000 works this year, signaling a "renaissance for books," the show's director said Monday.

The Frankfurt Book Fair topped the mark for only the second time in its 52-year history, fair director Lorenzo Rudolf said as the six-day event wound up Monday. And copyright signings also saw vigorous action on the sidelines, organizers said.

Electronic publishing and e-books also made a breakthrough in being accepted as a trend of the future, not just a passing fad, Rudolf said. "One has the clear impression that the future's being invested in," he said.

Electronic publishing and e-books - books published in digital format for viewing on a screen rather than on a printed page - were among the biggest buzzes at this year's book fair, Europe's most important meeting of publishers and authors.

An entire convention hall was set aside for CD-ROMs, database contents, books published on the Internet and careers in digital publishing, such as online editors.

Rudolf also predicted that the choice of Polish literature as this year's featured works would do much to feed interest in Polish culture throughout Western Europe.

The fair's 20,000-mark (dlrs 8,700) Peace Prize was awarded Sunday to Algerian author Assia Djebar, 64, who has written about women in Arabic society and her country's bloody history.