The first Boekenbeurs, or Book Fair, took place in 1932 in the Stadsfeestzaal in Antwerp which has now been transformed into a decadent shopping haven. The initial idea came from the Vereeniging ter Bevordering van het Vlaamsche Boekwezen (VBVB), an organization that at the time set out to promote Flemish books in order to educate people about local Flemish culture and to put Flemish literature on the map.

“In the beginning, the Boekenbeurs was more of an exhibition where people could browse and order but not actually buy books,” says Antwerp’s alderman of culture Philip Heylen. “It gradually evolved into an all-round experience and is today one of the biggest and most visited events in Flanders.”

Boekenbeurs is an entertaining spectacle of debates, interviews, competitions and meet-and-greets. But the main attraction is the abundance of authors who are “the heart of the operation,” according to Geert Joris, head of Boek.be, the successor of the VBVB. In 2010 alone, there were 850 authors at the Boekenbeurs to sign books and be interviewed.

Since its inception, the Boekenbeurs has always been a highlight of the autumn and was only cancelled briefly during the Second World War. In 1971, the Stadsfeestzaal in Antwerp had become too small and the fair was moved to its current location at Antwerp Expo where over 100 stalls are displayed on a modest 20,000 square metres, an impressive expansion from its original 2,500. “The growing number of visitors shows us that everyone in Antwerp – and even Flanders – has visited the Boekenbeurs at least once” Heylen adds.

Yet before the first Boekenbeurs in 1932, there were already Tentoonstellingen van het Vlaamsche Boek (Exhibitions on the Flemish Book) in cities such as Ostend and Aalst at the end of the 19th century. Those were followed by De Week van het Vlaamsche Boekwezen (The Week of the Flemish Book Industry) in 1929, also organized by the VBVB to promote the general interest in books. All the events leading up to the first edition of the Boekenbeurs, and its 74 consecutive years, have now been turned into a beautiful exhibit in the Antwerp museum of literature, the Letterenhuis.

“This new exhibition is a time document displaying how we handle books in Flanders and showing us how fashionable they’ve become,” says Heylen. “It also paints a clear picture of the time and the atmosphere in which the Boekenbeurs was able to become the phenomenon it is today.” An interesting aspect of the exhibition is the collection of advertisement posters from all 75 editions – a colourful display of not only the evolution of the Boekenbeurs but also of Flemish graphic design, featuring posters by Frans Masereel and Gert Dooreman. You can visit the exhibition free of charge with an entrance ticket of the Boekenbeurs.

This year, Geert Joris expects at least 175,000 visitors at the anniversary edition. The celebrations start on 30 October, when a Murga parade will walk from the Boekenbeurs’ original location at the Meir to its current home together with Antwerp’s city poet Peter Holvoet Hanssen. This year’s highlights are the appearances of international authors such as Santa Montefiore and Craig Thompson, creator of the hot and hyped graphic novel Habibi.

Technology will also play a vital role this year, as the first e-pavilion will be created, showing us the future of books. There are also multiple theme days, like every year, focusing on a particular subject. Joris explains: “We are convinced that books will become multi-media objects and want to emphasise this with a theme day about books and film. It’ll be a pitching event for movie and book producers who’ll be able to exchange ideas and do some networking.”

The Boekenbeurs, in a nutshell, is a winning combination of commercial ingenuity and cultural advancement, and the place to finally meet your favourite Flemish author.

Boekenbeurs

31 October to 11 November
Antwerp Expo
Jan Van Rijswijcklaan 191
www.boekenbeurs.be

Fresh fiction (of authors present at the Boekenbeurs)

Sterrenogen (Stars’ Eyes)
by Eef Lanoye • WPG
Eef Lanoye is the niece of one of Flanders’ most esteemed contemporary authors, Tom Lanoye. Her debut is a collection of 11 saucy stories in which an eclectic cast of women embraces their erotic desires. Her tales are shocking but also liberating and full of smouldering and occasionally graphic sex scenes that, due to her capable craftsmanship, never become cheap or gratuitous. Lanoye believes that in 2011, it’s about time that women openly start writing about something we all enjoy but rarely talk about.

Schoolslag (Breakstroke)
by Joseph Pearce • WPG
As a former teacher of Dutch and English at the Onze-Lieve- Vrouw College in Antwerp, Joseph Pearce had quite some experience when it came to the day-to-day life in a prestigious Flemish high school. Schoolslag is about a fictional and one-of-a-kind school in Flanders run by the Fathers of the Felix order, where tradition is almost as important as keeping up appearances. This conventional, almost archaic academy is saved from ruins when they are forced to modernize and hire a female teacher – something that results in intrigue, controversy and lots of tongue-in-cheek humour.

Post voor Mevrouw Bromley (Mail for Ms Bromley)
by Stefan Brijs • Atlas
His debut novel De Engelenmaker (The Angel Maker) was a smash hit in 2005 and was subsequently released in English. Brijs’ highly anticipated new novel is set in London during the First World War where the 17-year-old Martin Bromley is trying his best to join the army, despite his age. Unable to convince his best friend John to join with him, Martin sneaks off, leaving John to pick up the pieces during a time when tensions are rising. Post voor Mevrouw Bromley is a captivating novel about hope, courage, friendship and longing.

De Ontsporing (The Derailment)
by Paul Jambers • Linkeroever
The famous Flemish TV journalist Paul Jambers makes his fictional debut with this thriller about a young woman who disappears after contacting a well-known writer who might help her find her father. Filled with flashbacks to 1969, Jambers’ novel has the undeniable feel of a journalistic endeavour, due to its clean cut prose and descriptive passages. De Ontsporing is about taking responsibility for one’s actions and the sometimes devastating consequences of our love lives for future generations.