Up until two years ago there was a national Israeli stand every year in the Buchmesse.Last year, Israel did not set up a stand because the budget for it was not found. This year, the Israeli culture atteche at Germany, Ran Yaakoby, came to see the Frankfurt Buchmesse, in order to decide whether or not he will recommend the state to find the budget. "I have collected some impressions, together with Michel Segev, the head of the culture department in the Israeli foreign affairs office, and we will try to sum them up", He said halfway through his visit. "There is Israeli presence in the fair, because some private publishing houses come here, but we need to see if a national stand is necessary. The cost is very high and Israel's budget is law".
There is another reason that Yaakoby thinks might get in the way of a national stand. "I am not sure that the Israeli publishing houses would want to sit together under one roof. Even when there was a national stand many of them displayed their books separately".
One of the private publishing houses that sends it's people to the fair regularly is "Hakibbutz Hameuchad -Sifriat Poalim Publishing Group". It's non-fiction editor in chief is Giora Rosen, who thinks it's a shame that Israel doesn't have a national stand in the fair "I have been coming here for the last 15 years, and I can definitely feel the difference in the last two years. Money should not be an issue when it comes to culture. This could be a way for Israel to send a message: We want peace, we come with books and culture- not with weapons." As to the claim that the publishers don't want to be a part of the national stand he says: "The state can not neglect literature for years, and then expect the publishers to run to it's lap when it blows a whistle."
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Die Frankfurter Rundschau finden Sie auf der Buchmesse in Halle 3.0, Stand E170. Wir bieten tägliche Autorengespräche - und sind immer um 13 Uhr zu Gast im Lesezelt. Rufen Sie hier unser komplettes Programm im PDF-Format ab.