Comments on: A Riot at the Book Fair – Peter Weidhaas (1968) http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/1968/10/a-riot-at-the-book-fair-by-peter-weidhaas/ The Memoirs of Peter Weidhaas and Your guide to the past, present and future of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:46:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Locus Publishing http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/1968/10/a-riot-at-the-book-fair-by-peter-weidhaas/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Locus Publishing Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:46:23 +0000 http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/?p=127#comment-18 We have a great post by Peter on Latin American Literature and Eduardo Galeano over at the Locus Publishing site: http://locus-international.com/2009/11/the-gift-of-literature/ We have a great post by Peter on Latin American Literature and Eduardo Galeano over at the Locus Publishing site:

http://locus-international.com/2009/11/the-gift-of-literature/

]]> By: Peter Weidhaas http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/1968/10/a-riot-at-the-book-fair-by-peter-weidhaas/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Peter Weidhaas Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:42:28 +0000 http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/?p=127#comment-17 Thank you for your comment on "A Riot at the Frankfurt Book Fair". These incidents with the 68-student movements around Cohn Bendit at the Frankfurt Book Fair brought us the attention of the international press. Before 1968, an easily comprehensible number of press people were attracted by Frankfurt, around 100. In 1968 this number grew to over 300, and Reuters news agency sent a correspondent for only following Cohn-Bendit and reporting on him and his actions at the Fair. At the beginning of the seventies the number of press people went over 3000. Later in the nineties the number of registered press people grew over 12.000. The occurrence of the students at the 1968 Fair made me some years later invent what is today called the "guest country" program. The students were the first who actually asked about the contents of the books, so in 1976 we organized the first of these events with "Latin American Literature." Thank you for your comment on “A Riot at the Frankfurt Book Fair”. These incidents with the 68-student movements around Cohn Bendit at the Frankfurt Book Fair brought us the attention of the international press. Before 1968, an easily comprehensible number of press people were attracted by Frankfurt, around 100. In 1968 this number grew to over 300, and Reuters news agency sent a correspondent for only following Cohn-Bendit and reporting on him and his actions at the Fair. At the beginning of the seventies the number of press people went over 3000. Later in the nineties the number of registered press people grew over 12.000.

The occurrence of the students at the 1968 Fair made me some years later invent what is today called the “guest country” program. The students were the first who actually asked about the contents of the books, so in 1976 we organized the first of these events with “Latin American Literature.”

]]> By: Henry Raymont http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/1968/10/a-riot-at-the-book-fair-by-peter-weidhaas/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Henry Raymont Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:08:40 +0000 http://seeyouinfrankfurt.com/?p=127#comment-16 Dear Peter Weidhaas: In a strange way I was grateful to Cohn Bendit and Rudi Duschke for their 'aktion'. I had just been appointed to covering publishing news for The New York Times after years of covering Latin America. To suddenly be writing for the cultural pages was a bit of a letdown so that when the rows stirred by those two rascals suddenly landed my Frankfurt stories on the front page made my trip well worth while. It may amuse you to hear that at Frankfurt some of my sources (Roger Straus and Unseld) suggested I might look into a little known company called Bertelsmann, so I went to Gutersloh and interviewed a chap called Mohn, who had gotten the idea of starting a book club from the Book of the Month promotions he received at his POW camp in Utah! The Times ran that story on page 108 in third or fourth section of its Sunday edition. And look at it now--or perhaps better ten years ago. Cheers, Henry Raymont Washington, D.C. Dear Peter Weidhaas:

In a strange way I was grateful to Cohn Bendit and Rudi Duschke for their ‘aktion’. I had just been appointed to covering publishing news for The New York Times after years of covering Latin America. To suddenly be writing for the cultural pages was a bit of a letdown so that when the rows stirred by those two rascals suddenly landed my Frankfurt stories on the front page made my trip well worth while.

It may amuse you to hear that at Frankfurt some of my sources (Roger Straus and Unseld) suggested I might look into a little known company called Bertelsmann, so I went to Gutersloh and interviewed a chap called Mohn, who had gotten the idea of starting a book club from the Book of the Month promotions he received at his POW camp in Utah! The Times ran that story on page 108 in third or fourth section of its Sunday edition. And look at it now–or perhaps better ten years ago.
Cheers,

Henry Raymont
Washington, D.C.

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