Guest countries and focal themes

Every year, a specific theme permeates the entire fair – a certain country or linguistic area, a region or a topical cultural issue.

Over the years we have focused on countries such as Brazil, the UK, the Netherlands and Flanders, Estonia, a whole continent; Africa, South Korea, and countries with the same language such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland to mention a few. There is always a special focus on the Nordic countries. Every year we also offer a smaller scale theme presented as “Voices from…” In recent years we’ve presented Voices from Iceland, Catalonia, Ireland, Bangladesh and Ukraine. This is an excellent opportunity to get to know new authorships from different parts of the world and in addition a great possibility for buying and selling rights.

Participate as a Focal Theme or as “Voices from”

A Guest Country at the Göteborg Book Fair has the opportunity to participate in a larger or smaller scale in the aim of raising interest in its contemporary literature, writers, promote book exports in the Nordic Region, and vice versa. The larger scale is to be the Guest Country and Focal Theme at the Book Fair and the smaller scale is to participate as “Voices from …”.

Why participate?

  • Participation contributes to the establishment of international cultural relations and promotes cultural exchange, dialogue and tourism.
  • The Guest Country’s presentation is a magnet for audiences and a significant hook for the media in its coverage. 1,000 accredited journalists cover the Göteborg Book Fair each year, generating approximately 7,000 articles, TV and radio spots worth of SEK 250 million.
    It is the event with the largest media coverage in Scandinavia.
  • Introducing authors for readers and the general public, the Guest Country’s presence offers a new point of access to its literature and culture.

For more information, please contact Johan Kollén: [email protected]

Recent Göteborg Book Fair themes

2001  Nordic Literature
2002  Finland, Journal02 (Cultural magazines)
2003  Poland, Popular science
2004  British Literature
2005  Lithuania
2006  Freedom of Expression
2007  Estonia
2008  Latvia
2009  Spain
2010  Africa
2011  Three countries – one language – Germany, Austria, Switzerland
2012  Nordic Literature
2013  Romania
2014  Brazil
2015  Hungary
2016  Freedom of Expression
2017  Bildung and Cultivation, Finland 100 years
2018  Respect, Images and Media Issues
2019  South Korea, Gender Equality and Media and Information Literacy
2020  Reading Promotion and Digital Culture
2021  Democracy, Reading Promotion and Nordic literature
2022 South Africa, the Climate Crisis, Crimetime and Voices from Ukraine
2023 Jewish Culture, The City and Audio

The 2024 Gothenburg Book Fair, which marks the 40th installment of the event, will take place 26–29 September at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre.