As usual, the Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book fair in the world, is on a scale hardly fathomable to BookExpo America regulars. Nearly 400,000 titles, 90,000 of which are new, will be dislayed. Some 6600 individual exhibitors and 80 national and collective exhibitors, all representing 111 countries, will appear. About 300,000 visitors are expected. Although the number of exhibitors has dropped by 3% from last year -- attributable to mergers and consolidations -- book production has risen 2%, according to book fair organizers. A quarter of all exhibitors will display some kind of multimedia products.

Among this year's big-name authors to appear: this year's Nobel Prize-winner Gunter Grass as well as recent winners Toni Morrison and Jose Saramago.