Big stars, cookbooks and dominoes lined up for Frankfurt Book Fair

British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie will give the keynote address at the Frankfurt Book Fair. – AFP/Relaxnews pic, October 6, 2015.Author Salman Rushdie will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Frankfurt International Book Fair (October 14-18), which will feature a larger and more international culinary section than ever before this year in addition to its usual roster of hot fiction and non-fiction titles and deals.

Rushdie, whose latest novel, "Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights", released last month, will speak about freedom of expression in the fair's keynote address, kicking off a programme that will feature a number of famous authors, thanks in part a new partnership with the BBC that will see the broadcaster interview Isabel Allende, Ken Follett and German writer Charlotte Roche.

Also new in 2015, the fair is partnering with the World Cookbook Fair to more than double the number of exhibitors at its annual Gourmet Gallery.

Around 1,000 titles will be displayed by 80 exhibitors from 30 countries, with well-known participating chefs to include Marlena Spieler of the US, Chef Wan of Malaysia and the UK's Martin Walker, whose Bruno cookbook is named for the main character in his French-set mystery series and will launch in English at the fair.

Meanwhile, Asia's role as a literary hotspot will be highlighted at this year's fair, which is spotlighting Indonesia as 2015 guest of honour. The country, which has seen sustained economic growth over the past ten years, has a developing domestic book market and, as 40%-50% of its published titles are translations – mainly English, Arabic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese – is the largest buyer of rights in Southeast Asia.

Among the more unusual plans for the 2015 fair, a team led by Patrick Sinner, who holds several records for building domino chains, will attempt a domino chain of 10,000 Guinness World Records books, attempting to break a record of 9,862 books that was recently set in Japan. That will take place at noon on October 14, the first day of the fair, which runs until October 18. – AFP/Relaxnews, October 6, 2015.