Talk of merging media at Frankfurt Book Fair by Zuzana Zelenakova

Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest book fair in the world, held annually in mid-October. This year it is run from October 6-10. Its tradition dates back as far as to Johannes Gutenberg. The first book fair was held by local booksellers shortly after he invented his printing machine. This year, the fair is marked with the talk of digital media more than ever. "The biggest trend is that various media are merging," said Frankfurt Book Fair's director, Juergen Boos. "When people sit at their computers, they often have news pages open, as well as their e-mail and other programs. That shows how dynamic things are." "People load all their preferred media onto one device, or have ! several different devices that they jump back and forth from," he added. Aside from the quickly emerging digital literature content the fair offers other attractions, including the presence of well-known authors such as American Jonathan Franzen and Briton Ken Follett. Franzen is set to read from his latest novel Freedom at the fair, which traces lives of members of an American family, the Berglunds, following them through several decades. Ken Follett, on the other hand, will attend to present digital version of his book The Pillars of the Earth. A part of the fair is also a program called Frankfurt Sparks, whose aim is to spark debate on new technologies in the industry. "Device providers need content to arouse consumer interest in their devices," said Bernhard Rohleder, managing director of the Federal Association for Information Technology. "The Frankfurt Book Fair provides that content, so it is a typical win-win situation for both the fair and the technology sector." H! e also predicts a rapid growth, about 20 percent in the next d! ecade, i n the sector where literature and technology merge.

related story (sgx18340): http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101005/tc_afp/entertainmentger...

by Zuzana Zelenakova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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