Leipzig, 02/22/2019

Blue Sofa Features 58 Authors at Leipzig Book Fair

The Blue Sofa is at the Leipzig Book Fair for the 20th time. This year's appearance will feature writers and audience favorites including Christoph Hein, Saša Stanišić, Jaroslav Rudiš, Feridun Zaimoglu, Andrea Wulf, Thomas Karlauf, Bela B, and Jean Ziegler. Bertelsmann is also setting a literary example at the “Leipzig liest” reading festival with 40 international authors.

The Blue Sofa is celebrating an anniversary: When this year's Leipzig Book Fair opens on Mar 21, the famous piece of literary furniture from Bertelsmann, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and ZDF will be there for the 20th time. The Blue Sofa is featuring 58 well-known and promising authors for its anniversary appearance. At the accompanying “Leipzig liest” reading festival, writers from all over the world will also be taking a seat on the iconic item of furniture as part of three series of events.

Looking back: On 23 March 2000, the first day of that year’s Leipzig Book Fair and also the birth hour of The Blue Sofa literary format, the sofa was still in Hall 3. Three presenters from the then partners, Bertelsmann and ZDF, presented 19 authors on four days of the fair. A year later, The Blue Sofa moved into the Glass Hall. Since then, it has prominently welcomed book fair visitors immediately behind the foyer – and 1,687 authors have presented their new titles on the sofa in a total of 2,752 conversations.

From Mar 21 this year, the presenters from ZDF, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and 3sat – 21 of them by now – will present the spring’s major new releases in Leipzig. They will be talking with 58 writers from Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Britain, Serbia, Pakistan, and the U.S., including Christoph Hein, Saša Stanišić, Jaroslav Rudiš, Feridun Zaimoglu, Andrea Wulf, Thomas Karlauf, Bela B, and Jean Ziegler.

Bertelsmann Supports ‘Leipzig liest’ Again

In the city of Leipzig itself, too, everything will revolve around literature from Mar 21 to 24: More than 3,400 authors from all over the world will travel to Europe's largest reading festival, “Leipzig liest,” and meet their readers at more than 3,600 events on around 500 stages. Bertelsmann is once again setting a literary example with three different event series: the “European Authors' Talks,” “Jewish Contexts,” and the “Crime Club.”