Yesterday, I went to Leipzig Book Fair. I've never been to a book fair before and this was something of a whim, because my daughter had a day off school. The book fair was meant to have lots of books for kids. It did have some, but really, what the book fair had most of, was people. There were books, don't get me wrong, but when we went into Leipzig itself, later, we hit a big bookshop and it seemed to have far more books in it than the book fair did. And you could find somewhere to sit and you didn't have to carry your coat for miles if you hadn't taken it off at the cloak rooms by the entrance, just after you'd come in out of the cold and rain - and didn't know how hot it would be inside.
So, I thought to myself what is a book fair for? Well, if your book's just been published, here's your chance to read from it for an audience, to talk about it. But there was a problem at Leipzig, a problem called acoustics. Even when sections were walled off for readings, you could hear all the mumbling crowds in the background. I watched an audience of kids being read to, and not one was looking at the person reading to them. I know that kids aren't the best concentraters in the world, but this was extreme. They all looked a little depressed in fact. And that was how I started to feel. At one point, heading back into the meleé after a quiet moment, I wondered what would happen if I did what I felt like doing. If I stood stock still, and screamed…
One thing that brought relief were the hordes of teenagers in fancy dress in the comics and 'Japanese stuff' section. They were having fun, they knew exactly why they were there. Unfortunately, I was less sure.
