KYIV, Oct 19 — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky will address this week’s Frankfurt book fair, with organisers offering emphatic support to the country’s literary scene in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian authors led by "punk poet” Sergiy Zhadan will feature prominently at the world’s biggest publishing event.

Zelensky will make his speech Thursday via video link at the five-day annual fair, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors from around the world and hundreds of exhibitors.

His wife, Olena Zelenska, is also due to speak at a side event.

Russian state institutions usually in charge of running their nation’s stand have been banned, with prominent opponents of President Vladimir Putin instead given the stage.

The fair’s director Juergen Boos said the event aimed to "offer direct support to our Ukrainian colleagues now as they withstand the Russian attack”.

"We are completely flabbergasted by a war in Europe which threatens the peaceful order following the fall of the Iron Curtain,” he said.

The Ukrainian publishing industry has a big stand at the fair, which Boos said was "an act of resistance at the attempt to annihilate the culture of this country”.

The 2022 edition marks a return to near normal for the fair after pandemic-induced disruptions.

"The Frankfurt book fair, after two years of pandemic, is back in full force,” said the director.

"The big VIPs, from politics and literary life, are here in person.”

The 2020 fair was almost fully digital, while last year’s was muted with many authors joining only via video link.

This year’s event has no restrictions, although the number of countries represented is still below the level at the last pre-pandemic fair in 2019.

Energy crisis

One of the most high-profile Ukrainian attendees will be Zhadan, a writer, translator and musician, and a key figure in the country’s literary scene.

The author — who has paused his writing career to focus on humanitarian aid and supporting the Ukrainian army — will read his poems and be interviewed.

While other prominent events have been planned around Ukrainian writers and publishers, the fair will also offer a platform to Russian dissidents.

Leonid Volkov, a leading ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and Irina Scherbakova, an activist from prominent rights group Memorial, will discuss the state of Russia’s opposition.

Popular Russian science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky — recently labelled a "foreign agent” by Moscow and put on a wanted list after denouncing the war in Ukraine — will also be appearing.

The energy crisis facing Europe after Russia’s shutdown of gas supplies will be a topic of discussion, as some bookshops, publishers and printers struggle with soaring bills.

The industry in Germany, which has been hard hit by the energy crunch, may face serious problems, warned Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, chairwoman of the German publishers and booksellers association.

"High energy prices also mean extremely high prices for paper and for the printing industry,” she said.

"If a bookshop sees an increase in 300 per cent in terms of energy costs... the book shop may go bust.”

Lighter subjects are also on the agenda, however, with an in-depth look at #BookTok, a growing community on social media network TikTok where users make short videos reviewing and discussing books.

Other big names include 2021 Nobel literature prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah from Tanzania and British-Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid, German-born actor Diane Kruger and American crime fiction author Donna Leon.

Spain is this year’s official guest of honour, and the fair will be opened later Tuesday in the presence of Spain’s King Felipe VI and his wife Queen Letizia, as well as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Leading Spanish authors will attend and there will be exhibitions about Spanish book illustrators, and stories told through films, drawings and installations.

The huge gathering dates back to the Middle Ages, with the first fairs taking place shortly after the Gutenberg printing press was invented in nearby Mainz in 1436. — ETX Studio