The China Mail - Italy row, AI in focus at world's biggest book fair

The Frankfurt book fair, which officially kicks off Wednesday, brings together authors, publishers and other industry players over five days in the western German city.

Big names include Israeli author and historian Yuval Noah Harari, best known for "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind", American writer Anne Applebaum and British-Turkish novelist Elif Shafak.

But the run-up has been marred by a row in Italy, this year's "guest of honour", an annual tradition intended to shine a spotlight on a partner country's literary scene.

Fury erupted after the initial official selection put forward by the Italians did not include Roberto Saviano, author of mafia bestseller "Gomorrah" who was convicted and fined last year for defaming far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Following the move, Saviano lashed out on social media at what he branded the "most ignorant government in the history of Italy". In the end he is coming to the fair anyway, but at the invitation of his German publisher.

Critics say it is further evidence of a worsening climate for freedom of expression in Italy, with 41 authors writing an open letter in response that complained of "increasingly suffocating political interference in cultural spaces".

The Italian Publishers Association insisted that it would never allow any kind of "outside interference" in the programme, called "Roots in the future".

The fair is no stranger to controversy -- last year several publishers from Muslim-majority countries withdrew in protest at organisers' strong support for Israel following Hamas's October 7 attacks that triggered the Gaza war.

Fair director Juergen Boos insisted it was right to maintain Italy as guest of honour, despite the controversy.

"I think to showcase what's happening in Italy's culture right now, in Italy's politics, it is very important," he told AFP.

- 'Romantasy' and robot writers -

There is much more going on besides the controversy surrounding Italy -- the world's biggest publishing trade event will this year welcome about 1,000 authors and other speakers at some 650 events on 15 stages.

A large area will be dedicated to "new adult" literature, which encompasses a weird and outlandish range of sub-genres beloved of younger readers, such as "Romantasy" and "Dark College".

These genres have been rapidly growing in popularity, often boosted by exposure through social media trend BookTok on the TikTok platform, where authors promote their work and readers post reviews.

Artificial intelligence will also be a major topic, with talks and panel discussions dedicated to the subject, as fears mount in the industry about poor-quality, computer-written books flooding the market and potential opyright violations.

Leading authors, including John Grisham and Jodi Picoult, have in recent times taken legal action against OpenAI, alleging the company unlawfully used their works to train its popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Still it's not all doom and gloom. There are hopes that AI can improve efficiency for publishers and also that it could be beneficial in some areas, such as scientific and research publishing.

"On the one side it's beneficial for the workflows in the publishing houses," said Boos. "On the other hand, regarding copyright, it's a big mess."

An annual highlight is the awarding of the prestigious "Peace of the German Book Trade", which will this year go to Applebaum, an American-Polish journalist and historian whose latest book "Autocracy Inc." examines the growing links between authoritarian states.

Q.Yam--ThChM