October 15, 2008	Wednesday	Shawwal 15, 1429

FRANKFURT, Oct 14: The world’s largest book fair opens to the public here on Wednesday under the cloud of a world financial meltdown that its celebrity invitation list of writers and politicians cannot dispel.

The malaise has reached the doorstep of the literary world as well: Business is down three per cent over the first nine months of this year, according to a recent survey of 90 German publishers.

The jitters are evident in other numbers. The 7,000 exhibitors from 101 countries expected at the fair suggest stagnation compared to last year’s turnout.

Still, industry players remain stubbornly optimistic, banking on the potential of electronic books and arguing their market operates under separate conditions, according to trade magazine Buchreport.

The Frankfurt book fair is showcasing Turkey this year, an aspiring EU candidate that has special significance in Germany, home to 2.4 million Turks.

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk counts among some 300 Turkish authors invited for the four-day event. Both Pamuk and Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul are expected at the fair’s official opening, Tuesday night.

Author of the acclaimed novel “Snow,” translated in some 40 countries, Pamuk remains a highly divisive figure in Turkey who faced charges for his controversial remarks about the World War I massacre of Armenians.—AFP