Hungarian literary life has the characteristic annual pulse-beat of the two major book events in a rapid two-month succesion. These are the Festive Book Week carnival of Hungarian contemporary literature, an 80-year tradition unparalleled in Europe, held in early summer, preceded each spring by an event of no lesser scope, the four-day Budapest Book Festival. Beside being an established cultural event, the Book Festival is also the largest professional forum for the Hungarian-language book market. This year’s topics of professional focus were the discussion of the book publishing and bookselling situation in light of the economic crisis. For the first time, the Festival also housed a conference for a state body fighting piracy and promoting the protection of intellectual property, assessing the possibilities of joint action.

 

The 17th Budapest Book Festival (22-25 April, 2010, at Millenáris Park) welcomed writers and exhibitors from 24 countries, and beside Israel as the Guest of Honour Country, this was the first time an Arabian country, Saudi Arabia, presented itself in Budapest, other first-time exhibitors being publishers from Brazil, Vietnam and Austria. As Guest of Honour Country, Israel was in the focal point of this year’s Festival with about a dozen book presentations, literary programmes and on-stage conversations representing the six decades of the modern state, its traditions, history and culture. Guest of Honour presentations also included concerts and two photo exhibitions, the Israeli national stand offering a selection of contemporary Israeli book publishing. Also featured were the more recent publications of Israeli writers in the Hungarian language, as well as Hungarian publications from the field of Jewish studies, several of which were released especially for the Book Festival.

 

This year’s Festival Grand Prize was presented to writer Amos Oz, whose 2007 book Rhyming Life and Death is released in Hungarian by Európa Publishing in time for the Book Festival. The awarding ceremony commenced with György Konrád’s laudatory speech, delivered in his absence by Imre Barna, while the longtime friend and colleague remained grounded abroad for reasons volcanological. His speech recalled memories of decades gone, of times spent together in heated conversation. Head Mayor Gábor Demszky greeted Amos Oz in English and Hungarian, highlighting the main motifs of the Israeli author’s life: Judaism and humanism. Having received the prize, Oz said a simple and heartfelt thank you, recapping his message that empathy toward another person, any person, and imagining what we would do in their place, is essential.

 

"As chairman of Európa Publishing, I am especially pleased to report how much attention Amos Oz is receiving. It is the first time that a Budapest Grand Prize recipient’s new book has been sold out within the first two days of the Festival," ImreBarnaannounced. He also remarked that as the Festival is a celebration for readers and publishers alike, its traffic will hardly reflect the problems facing the book industry.

 

Among the 17th Festival’s most important conferences was one dealing with the challenges of book trading and publishing in the age of digital copying. The talks were attended by prominent characters in the Hungarian book business including representatives of Google Books, Bookline, digitalization projects such as MEK (Hungarian Electronic Library), Europeana and the Széchenyi Library, as well as state office representatives from the Ministry of Justice and the Hungarian Patent Office. The problems and dilemmas of digitalization were discussed on 23 April (coinciding with World Book and Copyright Day) in three main thematic blocks: participation in digitalizing, countering illegal digital copying, and emerging trends in text culture. Numerous relevant issues were addressed from an impending Google monopoly to digital archiving strategies, massive illegal copying and possible countermeasures, EU legislation affecting copyright, and even the future outlook of the online and digital book market. While most participants did voice doubts and all acknowledged the urgency of the situation, none went nearly as far as Dezső Matyi, head of a major Hungarian bookstore chain: in his opinion, excessive free use, access and uploading lead to total stupefaction [sic!]. It would appear that at least one of the most influential figures of the market doesn't quite take the digital age and its impact on books altogether seriously. Nevertheless, the conference's broad outcome was that whereas book industry is generally conscious of undergoing a phase of fundamental change, yet despite the smattering of initiatives and even minor victories, yet a unified strategy, though admittedly crucial for a future outcome for the better, remains lacking, while all stick to ploughing their own furrow.

 

During the past decade, some 140 young writers have met and introduced themselves to literati audiences at the Budapest Book Festival. As in former years, the most successful first novelists from 17 countries again converged in Budapest, with author Viktor Horváth presenting one of the best Hungarian historical novels of the past decades. Traditionally, the Book Festival also provides a suitable setting and occasion for presenting the most important trade awards. The Hungarian Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association presented the Publisher of the Year award for the tenth time, based on a secret ballot, with Magvető Publishing House winning this year's first prize, Európa, Kalligram and General Press the runners-up. The Hungarian Section of International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announced the winners of the 2009 Children’s Book of the Year award recipients: László Bagossy's A Sötétben Látó Tündér (The Fairy who Saw in the Dark, Pagony Publishing) and Gábor Schein's Iriján és Jonibe (Iriján and Jonibe, Csodaceruza Publishing). Kinga Rofusz was Illustrator of the Year, and the prize for Best Translation went to Krisztina Tóth for her Hungarian rendition of Je t'écris papa by Florence Jenner-Metz released by Csimota Publishing. Several organisations chose the Book Festival as the best place to celebrate their anniversaries, commemorating the 275th anniversary of the founding of the Miskolc University Library, the 60th anniversary of Móra Publishing and the 10th anniversary of the Institute of Habsburg History.

 

This year's Librarians’ Club offered a range of programmes covering the launch of the largest-scale subsidy system of Hungarian book culture yet, called the Márai Programme, the development of library services, the Hungarian and universal cultural heritage and its protection, beside the evergreen themes of reading culture development and involving young children in reading. The Márai Programme was presented by its initiator Péter László Zentai, chairman of Hungarian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association. Zentai announced a 1bn HUF fund for expanding library archives and organizing author-reader meetings. The programme is unprecedented in its scale, with a scolarship programme and other suggested developments already in the works. Sándor Kormos of the Library Supply Distribution Co. described the project's logistics, an electronic interface accessible to publishers, curators and libraries. Publishers may submit descriptions of their books, to be compiled into lists by the curators, which libraries may then browse and pick from. Some six hundred thousand books will get to libraries this way, says Kormos. National Cultural Fund president László Harsányi pointed out the intended long-term perspective of the Márai Programme, 2010 being only its first launching year.

 

Another important and anticipated high profile trade discussion, on the impact of the economic crisis on the book trade, had a full house audience packing the Millenáris premises. Though a full-scale debate seems manifestly necessary, the hour-long debate only allowed for rudimentary reports on the present standing of business affairs. As befitting a time of crisis, all of the major macro indicators of the market are in decline, marking the final end of the book industry's rise since the system change of 1989. The market had lost 3,5 bn Forints since 2008, and while children's books and fiction are increasing in sales, the textbook market is approaching collapse. All major bookshop chains report a downturn in the range of 5-10% for the last year, while online market leader Bookline faces a tithing slump in profits despite its increasing popularity and diverse business portfolio. Controversy surrounds the widespread practice of special discount offers, which proved profitable in the short term, even hailed by many as an effective remedy for the book trade crisis, but conversely may further reduce the sale of full-priced items in the long run. In any case, this year's Book Festival has seen publishers introduce even more new releases than last year.