Books need readers. And in our globalized and digitized world, anyone who is unable to read or write has no access to education and is therefore a loser from the very start. In 2006 the Book Fair introduced the theme “Zukunft Bildung” (Education for the Future) as a priority with a decidedly international thrust. The focal point of the 2008 event is above all the aspect of education and integration. “With this initiative the Book Fair is taking on socio-political and societal responsibility,” says Karin Plötz, who is responsible for this focal point and for its off-shoot, the Frankfurt Book Fair Literacy Campaign, which was initiated at the 2007 Book Fair. This is about promoting reading, but above all it is about basic education. For this reason, the Book Fair has got together with the Unesco Institute for Lifelong Learning and the federal alphabetization association Bundesverband Alphabetisierung und Grundbildung. “As the world’s largest book fair, we offer an ideal platform for drawing attention to the problems and at the same time forming a network of organizations involved in alphabetization, basic education and media education,” says Karin Plötz. The platform in question is mainly the LitCam Conference, which takes place on the opening day of the Book Fair, October 14th, and continues the next day with workshops. The theme of the 2008 LitCam Conference is also integration: four organizations from Turkey, Burkina Faso, the US and Germany will introduce corresponding educational projects.
The LitCam also continues throughout the year: The Book Fair started the LitCam project in its home town in 2007 with the project “Football meets Culture”, which has a lot of supporters. Children with a non-German background receive professional football training – in collaboration with the German Football Association DFB – plus additional classes in which they are introduced to the more pleasant aspects of learning. In concrete terms this means two groups of twelve girls and twelve boys, aged 6 to 10 and 10 to 13, receive football training twice a week for an hour and afterwards an hour of additional lessons which are flexible in their structure; sometimes they read books like “Die wilden Fußballkerle”, sometimes they are given help in maths, German or other subjects. The projects are largely financed by sponsors.
“The offer is particularly popular with the 6 to 10-year-old kids,” say Karin Plötz. “There are some very encouraging success stories about how self-confidence can grow through sport, and achievements in school can also improve considerably.” This provides an incentive to do even more, which is why the Frankfurt Book Fair is taking the idea of “Football meets Culture” to Berlin and Hamburg in the coming school year in cooperation with two Bundesliga clubs. And with the support of the Federal Foreign Office, “Football meets Culture” projects are also planned for Cape Town, South Africa, and Istanbul, Turkey. The project in Cape Town has already taken on concrete form, so Plötz hopes it will be able to start in early 2009.
