Canadian culture and literature to be celebrated at 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair
The Governor General of Canada will be attending, as Canada is the guest of honour
Canada is the Guest of Honour (GoH) for the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest trade fair for books, social dialogue and cultural exchange.
The fall book fair annually selects a country as its GoH to showcase its unique publishing industry, literary talent and cultural history.
Over 50 authors and illustrators from across Canada will be participating in the program this year, including André Alexis, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Eden Robinson and Kim Thúy. The event kicks off on Oct. 20.
The theme for Canada's participation as GoH is Singular Plurality, chosen to reflect the diversity of Canada's cultural landscape and to celebrate the singularity of the provinces and territories making up the country.
CBC/Radio-Canada will be streaming some of the works by Canadian authors at canadafbm2021.com.
Governor General of Canada to attend festival
The Governor General of Canada, Mary May Simon, will travel to Germany from October 17 to 21 and attend the 2021 Frankfurt Book Fair.
"Canada and Germany are connected by both our diversity and our shared values. The Governor General's State visit to Germany will reinforce Canada's commitment to diversity and inclusion, climate and the environment, women and youth empowerment and reconciliation," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a statement announcing Simon's visit.
"Her Excellency's participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair will be an opportunity to highlight and celebrate Canadian cultural and literary works internationally."
Based in Frankfurt, the annual book fair is one of the most prominent international trade events for publishing, technology and cultural exchange. It's a sharing space for literature enthusiasts, creators and artists, as well as businesses in international rights and licensing trade.
Canada's program for this year's book fair features over 80 literary and cultural initiatives, both in-person and virtual.
Festival to feature interactive installations, virtual programming
The National Film Board of Canada will be presenting a projection in the public space of the Evangelical Academy in Frankfurt.
The projection includes Canada in Perpetual Motion, an artistic quilt created from films and archival excerpts; and Preserving a Legacy, a piece created by artist Carey Newman to honour the survivors of the residential school system in Canada.
Inspired by Québec's literature translated into German, LOOP is an interactive artwork that plays short flip book-style movies. The artwork invites the audience members to discover how their own movements turn a series of still images into animation. The project will be presented in Frankfurt am Main, at the Frankfurt Book Fair as well as in the city centre.
The Ones We Met is an exhibition that explores Inuit traditional knowledge and how it determined the fate of the Franklin Expedition in 1845. The project combines the oral histories of Indigenous peoples with modern archeological research. It will be on display in the Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt until January 2022.
Also included in the program is Fiery Sparks of Light, an augmented reality poetry experience that spotlights Canadian women poets. The production is an immersive and sensory celebration of Canadian poetry and the important contributions made by women poets, featuring holographic poetry performances by Margaret Atwood, Nicole Brossard, Canisia Lubrin and Sarah Tolmie.
"We wanted to shine a light on women's voices and their special role in challenging gender-based ideology for generations in Canadian literature," said Nataly De Monte, director of Canadian Film Centre Media Lab, in a statement.
"Encapsulating their readings spatially means viewers get a more personal interaction with the holograms, in any environment they choose, for a deeper, visceral experience."
The program also includes events that are accessible online.
Let's Hear It! Live is a digital concert celebrating Black History Month, produced in partnership with 100 Collective that celebrates three emerging Black artists from British Columbia.
The virtual programming features a range of short films and documentaries produced by Indigenous youth of Tukoyakuk, N.W.T. — animated film Beluga Hunting, documentaries Nellie Pokiak: Elder Strength and If Teardrops Were Pennies: Julia Cockney.
CBC initiatives to highlight Canadian literature
Writing the Land, a four-part docuseries co-produced by CBC and ZDF/ARTE, will be broadcasted during the Fair. The series features 12 Canadian writers from different backgrounds and showcases the deep diversity of contemporary literature in Canada, including Esi Edugyan, Joshua Whitehead and Madeleine Thien.
CBC Arts will be presenting Poetry on the Mainstage with Canadian poets Canisia Lubrin, David Goudreault and Vivek Shraya. By sharing their works, the poets will examine their innermost feelings while facing the world in all its complexity.
Mapping Canada, a panel moderated by Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau, examines writers whose homes are their muse. Participating authors include Diane Carmel Léger, Michael Crummey and Michel Tremblay.
The program Preserving and Protecting Languages and Cultures features a conversation between authors including Joséphine Bacon, Waubgeshig Rice and Marie-Claire Blais. These writers believe in the power of language and culture and are determined to preserve them.
The Audacity of Canadian Children's Literature is a discussion between authors and illustrators Ashley Spires, Nancy Vo and India Desjardins. They will address how the majority of creators of children's literature in Canada are increasingly presenting innovative and lucid works that break persistent taboos.
Established in 1949, the Frankfurt Book Fair is organized by Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, part of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association.
Visit canadafbm2021.com to see the full programming and how to access the virtual events.
