India at Frankfurt Book Fair 2025

The Frankfurt Book Fair is set to host various Indian exhibitors at its 2025 iteration, scheduled to take place from 15 to 19 October in Frankfurt, Germany. The 2025 fair will place the Philippines in the cultural spotlight as the official Guest of Honour. 

In 2006, India was the guest of honour at the book fair, under the motto Today’s India. The aim was to shift focus beyond English-language authors to those writing in India’s other twenty-four main languages. Organised jointly by the National Book Trust of India and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the event featured more than thirty authors and numerous cultural events across Germany, showcasing contemporary Indian culture, music, and literature.

India has cemented its reputation as a global production hub, as a significant proportion of the Indian delegation comprises companies from the printing, prepress, and digital publishing services sectors that participate at the fair. Participation allows Indian publishers to pursue two critical goals: acquiring rights to international titles for the domestic market, and selling the translation rights for original Indian works. 

The trade floor features a mix of independent presses and established imprints. Chennai-based Westland Books (Hall 6.1) maintains a diverse list across twelve distinct imprints, including commercial and literary fiction, non-fiction, business, and translations in ten Indian languages. Delhi-based Double 9 Books (Hall 6.0) also focuses on trade publishing, featuring a strong catalogue of both global classics and contemporary Indian fiction and non-fiction.

Literary quality and cultural depth are presented by exhibitors such as Nagercoil-based Kalachuvadu Publications (Hall 6.1), known for championing contemporary Tamil writing and introducing world literature through translation, exemplified by the international recognition for titles like Perumal Murugan’s Pyre. Ahmedabad-based Mapin Publishing (Hall 6.1) showcases India’s skill in producing high-quality illustrated books in art, architecture, and photography, alongside children’s titles. Similarly, Chennai-based Tara Books (Hall 6.1) promotes visual content, working with indigenous and folk artists on illustrated books, picture books, and graphic stories.

A crucial commercial element of the Indian delegation lies in its powerful printing and technology sectors. Companies like Delhi-based Nutech Print Services and Haryana-based Thomson Press (both in Hall 6.1) demonstrate the country’s printing infrastructure, offering services from high-quality coffee table books and school textbooks to specialisation in Bibles and Board Books for major global publishing houses.

The integration of technology is highlighted by Mumbai-based Repro India (Hall 4.0), a major print and distribution partner that provides advanced services like print-on-demand and short-run capabilities. This digital focus is amplified by Chennai-based Ailaysa Technologies (Hall 4.0), an AI company offering solutions for book translations, pioneering chatbook technology, and demonstrating how Indian firms are innovating within the global digital publishing space.

The presence of companies like Delhi-based Bakarmax Studios (Hall 6.1), which showcase webcomics, graphic novels, and animation, further illustrates India’s growing role as a source of creative content and cost-effective production in the wider media landscape, moving beyond traditional publishing formats.

Individual independent presses such as the Patna-based Booklover Publishing House (Hall 6.0) focus on building cross-cultural collaborations. Their involvement is representative of a broader push by independent publishers to establish a direct global footprint and secure international representation for authors.

Apart from these publishing houses, various other publishing houses and printing companies will be exhibiting at the book fair to ensure their relevance in a market that is increasingly influenced by digital transformation, new media, and artificial intelligence, seeking to adapt to global trends while promoting the unique voice of Indian literature.