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With 7,500 exhibitors from more than 110 countries, the Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest event of its kind in the world. This year’s guest of honor in Frankfurt is New Zealand, a young country in literary terms. Ursula Krechel wins the German Book Prize with her novel set in post-war West Germany, and the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature goes to Chinese writer Mo Yan.
One of his country's most popular authors, Mo Yan is the first Chinese national to be awarded the coveted prize. The Nobel Prize Committee's decision to honor him might have a political subtext but few would argue that he is a great writer.
The book market in New Zealand is relatively small. New Zealand only has a population of 4.4 million and about 2,000 bookshops. Two New Zealand writers have managed to sell more than 50,000 books in their own country. One of them is Lloyd Jones, whose novel "Mister Pip” became an international success.
With the rise of downloadable e-books, reading habits are in transition. Digital media are putting pressure on conventional publishing houses and simultaneously offering authors undreamt-of opportunities for marketing themselves. Berlin-based novelist Jonas Winner, for instance, has sold 100,000 Kindle editions of his thriller series "Berlin Gothic”.
The only woman on the shortlist came out on top. Ursula Krechel has been awarded the prize for the best new German language novel for "Landgericht”. It tells the story of a Jewish judge who, having fled Nazi Germany, returns home after World War II to find himself a persona non grata.
