Supporting passionate and dedicated publishing professionals

Born during the now-legendary Zoom-apéritifs of the Covid years, the Aficionado Award is a collaboration between its four founding members, the Frankfurter Buchmesse and the Salone del Libro di Torino. Along with Rebecca Servadio (london Literary Scouting), Tom Kraushaar (Klett-Cotta), and Aleksi Siltala (Siltala Publishing), Michael Gaeb (Literarische Agentur Gaeb&Eggers) is a co-founder of the award, designed to “connect and support passionate and dedicated publishing professionals”. Also, as Gaeb points out, from the outset, the idea was to create a unique networking opportunity that would be “fun, never boring, always highly professional.”

In its first three editions, the Aficionados have had the chance to explore and discuss the most diverse publishing initiatives, all revolving around the passion of books – shortlists included festivals and events-organisers, politically-engaged publishing platforms, unprecedented forms of subscriptions, disruptive methods of distribution, and outstanding collaborations between players of the market.

Michael Gaeb, how and when did the idea of the Aficionado Award come about?

It’s a funny story: it all started with the pandemic-aperós we had (Rebecca, Aleksi, Tom, and me), our frustration about the cancelled book-fairs, and our disagreement with some of the corporate people who then thought fairs and in-person meetings weren’t necessary anymore. We felt the need to create a space to gather publishing people, to show that the publishing community is incredibly inspiring in its diversity. Our first idea was to meet in a Hotel in Helsinki, but the umpteenth lockdown made that impossible. We organised a super dinner at the first post-Covid book fair in 2021 in Frankfurt. It was the biggest dinner at the fair, and people asked us to repeat it. That’s where the AFICIONADO AWARD was born.

Candidates are nominated by a flexible and non-hierarchical group of publishing professionals. Each year, this temporary jury includes one founding member and two additional members selected by the founding Aficionados, who in the meanwhile have been joined by two additional permanent jury members, Camilla Cottafavi (Feltrinelli) and Claire Do Serro (Robert Laffont). Once the jury has chosen the shortlist, candidates are invited in Torino to present their initiatives at the Salone Internazionale del Libro; the winner receives the award at a dinner on Thursday night at the Frankfurter Buchmesse.
 

This is a very dynamic selection mechanism. How did you come up with this process, and what are its advantages? 

As for the non-permanent jury members, we look for people with strong international standing and connections, who hold important positions and can contribute with interesting submissions. This allows us to always explore exciting projects, happening literally in every corner of the world. We are also very satisfied with the two-step mechanism. At the wonderful book fair in Turin, the discussion at the Rights Centre is both inspiring and professionally stimulating. The panel is always on the first day of the rights market, and every year it sparks exchanges and discussions that continue throughout the fair. Then, the aficionados have some time to think and vote for their favourite candidate, who is then awarded and celebrated in Frankfurt. 

Taking stock of the first three editions of the accolade, are you happy with the results? Did it turn out the way you imagined it?

Very much. I think we had three wonderful Aficionado Award winners and an ever-growing community of international publishing professionals who communicate with one another and feel committed to the cause and the idea. Each dinner in Frankfurt is overbooked!

Do you have regular Aficionado meetings? Any special anecdotes you would like to share?

Yes, we have regular meetings and constant discussions about who could be a promising candidate. One great anecdote that perfectly embodies the spirit we want to convey occurred at an Aficionado dinner in Frankfurt. Frederike Doppenberg of the Dutch independent publishing house Van Oorschot was sitting next to the wonderful publisher, businesswoman and philanthropist Vera Michalski. The war in Ukraine had started earlier that year. Frederike talked about the idea of offering a publishing platform to Russian dissident writers. Vera Michalski was enthusiastic about the project and decided to finance the first issues of the magazine, called Fifth Wave. That is exactly the kind of constructive networking we want to support. And by the way, Fifth Wave was then shortlisted for the Aficionado 2024 Award

What future developments do you see for the prize?

We would love to see the AFICIONADO at many international book fairs to maintain the community's diversity and continue supporting innovative projects.

Let us look forward to discovering the 2026 Aficionado Award shortlist. Stay tuned!