Frankfurt Book Fair 2015 to honor Indonesia

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book and media fair in the world – with around 7,300 exhibitors from around 100 countries. 

In 2015 the Frankfurt Book Fair will present “the vibrant literature, talents and the rich culture of one of the most populous and ‘young’ countries in the world”, says Director of Frankfurt Book Fair, Juergen Boos.

With an expanding education sector, the Indonesian government has spent 20% of its national budget on education, also investing in digital textbooks since 2003. In 2011 this amounted to a sum of 21.5 billion Euros. The Indonesian economy presented a growth rate of 6.5% in 2012.

Indonesian literature looks on a grand tradition of oral storytelling, an expressive tradition of poetry, and also has great prose literature in its repertoire. One of the most well-known Indonesian authors is Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925-2006). He was awarded the PEN Freedom Award and published more than 30 works which were translated into at least 20 languages. Pramoedya Ananta Toer was also high on the list of the candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Ayu Utami whose novel “Saman” was published in 2007 represents a generation of young authors from his country. 

There are about 1000 active publishing houses in Indonesia and more than 260 of their publications have been translated into the English Language altogether.