The Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's biggest publishing show, prepared Tuesday to welcome more than 200 Arab authors as guests of honour on the eve of the 56th annual event.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa are to address a gala ceremony later Tuesday before the fair opens its doors Wednesday to nearly 6,700 exhibitors from 111 countries.
The event's director, Volker Neumann, told reporters in the German finance capital that the decision to turn the spotlight on Arab literature was intended to reverse years of neglect in the Western world.
"While in the last years no more than 12, maximum 15 titles from Arab authors appeared in bookstores translated into German, this year there are about 50," he said, crediting the attention given at the high-profile fair.
"All the major newspapers and magazines, television and radio have given Arab authors massive coverage to provide the German public with an unfiltered view of the situation in the individual countries."
Neumann hit back at accusations the book fair was neglecting outspoken, overtly political writers in favour of authors who opted for self-censorship or even state propaganda.
"Even those critics must now grudgingly admit that there has never been more written about the cultural, social and political situation in Arab countries than this year - in Germany as well as in the Arab world," he said.
Syrian poet Adonis, Moroccan novelist Tahar Ben Jelloun, Lebanese writer Elias Khoury and the Palestinians Mahmud Darwish and Sahar Khalifa will be among the most prominent guests at the event, which runs through Sunday.
Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, 92, will also have a speech read aloud for him at the ceremony Tuesday.
In all, 19 of the 22 Arab League countries are official guests of the fair, spokesman Holger Ehling said.
In addition to book premieres and readings, the show will host a number of panel discussions on topics ranging from human rights and censorship in Muslim countries to the re-emergence of a literary scene in war-ravaged Iraq.
Other highlights are expected to include new developments in publishing technology including advances in electronic books and the premiere of an exhibition on African comic books tinged with political satire.
An estimated 350,000 titles will be showcased at the five-day fair, which is expected to attract some 300,000 visitors, a slight increase from last year.
After Germany, with 2,809 publishing houses represented, Britain and the United States will be the top exhibitors with 868 and 717 publishers respectively - both posting an increase over 2003.
The event is traditionally timed to coincide with the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, due on Thursday at 1100 GMT.
On the final day of the fair, Hungarian author Peter Esterhazy will accept the German book trade's prestigious peace prize, whose previous winners include US writer Susan Sontag, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe and German philosopher Juergen Habermas. South Korea will be featured in 2005 as the fair's special guest country.
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