PVLF 2026

India Showcases Literary Diversity at the 77th Frankfurt Book Fair 2025

India marks its presence at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 with a vibrant display of linguistic, literary, and publishing diversity under the theme "Read and Explore India."
on Oct 15, 2025

India is ready to leave a vibrant imprint in the 77th Frankfurt Book Fair (15–19 October 2025) with a big display of its linguistic, literary and publishing diversity. As part of the theme "Read and Explore India – पढ़ें और जानें भारत – Lies und Entdecke Indien!", the 'India National Stand', composed by the National Book Trust, India (Ministry of Education) in association with the Consulate General of India, Frankfurt, will be hosting for the first time an exclusive 'India Stage' to provide a platform for Indian and global thought leaders and industry experts to share ideas and discover means to build the creation of culture and business of reading.

The involvement of national institutions as well as private publishing institutions under the same roof of a National Stand highlights the Whole-of-Government approach in representing Brand India at such a high-profile trade-centric international event, initially envisioned by the Ministry of Education in 2023 with National Book Trust, India as the executing agency and the Nodal Agency for Promotion of Indian Books Abroad under the Book Promotion Division, Ministry of Education.

Taking cue from Bihar's Mithila art, the mascot for the India Stand created and designed by the National Institute of Design (NID) celebrates language diversity, reading together as a family and brings together India's literary heterogeneity and the peacock, India's national bird, whose plumage epitomizes the myriad hues of imagination, knowledge and feelings within India's tales.

India National Stand will be opened by Consul General of India in Frankfurt, Ms. Suchita Kishore on 15 October 2025, in the presence of Chairman of National Book Trust, India, Mr Milind Sudhakar Marathe along with other notable Indian and foreign guests.

A highlight of the event will be the launch of 17 Indian children's books in German, translated from the works of renowned Indian writers that will be a big step in bringing Indian storytelling to European readers. Twelve major publishers are attending in person at the India National Stand, and more than 90 publishers like Bloomsbury, Parragon Publishing India Pvt Ltd, AITBS Publishers India, Shroff Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd, Indian Council of Social Science Research, National Council of Promotion of Urdu Language, Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Central Hindi Directorate, Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Lok Sabha Secretariat, PHI Learning Private Limited, IndiePress, Fingerprint!

Publishing, Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Ved Vidya Pratishthan, Institute of Social and Cultural Studies, Rupa Publications, Pinwheel Publications, Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House, Universal Publishing, Optique Sutra and others are showcased through a Collective Exhibit of Books from India, giving global viewers a bird's eye view of India's publishing scene.

In an effort to further solidify international partnerships, a Rights Catalogue of Books from India with almost 250 books from more than 90 publishers will be published for copyright trade and translation prospects including books written in other Indian languages like Asamiya, Bangla, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam among others

India Stage to Host Global Dialogue

The recently added India Stage will play a role in hosting a series of India-EU, Greece, Philippines, Algeria and Colombia dialogues promoting reading culture across the world. Of special importance is the India-Philippines Dialogue, as the nation is the Guest of Honour at Frankfurt Book Fair 2025. The India–Colombia Meet will further enhance publishing connections between the two countries.

Lectures on Ayurveda, Meditation, Vastu Vidhya, Indian knowledge system will also be given by renowned German scholars.

These conversations will see an unprecedented assembly of senior voices from around the globe, including literature, publishing, design, culture and academia. Some of the speakers include Richard Charkin, a veteran British publishing executive with decades of experience at Bloomsbury, Macmillan, and Oxford University Press, Argyris Kastaniotis, Director General of Kastaniotis Editions, Michalis Kalamaras, a prominent Greek publishing consultant and Guatemalan-American writer and translator David Unger.

The India-EU Dialogue will present Valentina Stoeva the Chair of EURead, the European reading promotion network across Europe and Daan Beeke, Network Manager at EURead, whose role is centered on school libraries and lifelong reading habits. From India, Dhananjay Singh, an educator at JNU and Member-Secretary, ICSSR, will add academic insight to the debate, alongside Payal Puri, a former Editor of Cosmopolitan, and literary scholars Kartik Raj Kushvah, Himanshu Chawla, C. M. Gosain and Chief Editor & Joint Director, NBT-India Kumar Vikram. R.

Chandrasekaran, Director of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Ministry of Education, and Subrahmanian Seshadri, Member, Educational Publishers Forum of International Publishers Association, with previous experience as a leader at Oxford University Press India and Dorling Kindersley India.

In addition, academicians like Adele Hennig-Tembe, Sabine Müller, Thomas Vogel, Sahib Kapoor, and Jayashree Hari Joshi have translated 17 best-selling children's books into German. Among them, Sabine Müller and Thomas Vogel will be joining the panel discussion "Cultural Communication among Children through Translations". Together, these speakers represent the India National Stand's culture of conversation which will bring together creativity and cross-cultural cooperation. For five days, the India National Stand will serve as a vibrant exchange literary, cultural and intellectual platform, hosting celebrated writers, translators, publishers and intellectual leaders from India and around the globe.