March holds one of the more important yearly events for me – the Leipzig book fair. This year I want to give you a little introduction. Maybe I can interest you in coming next year. 

I have been going to the Leipzig book fair since I was 14 – nearly every year with some interruptions. For years I have been going on Saturdays. Saturdays are for people who like other people. Like really like – you will get in physical contact with a lot of them. Halls are crowded with cosplayers in elaborate outfits and normal people. It is really funny to see how the older generation gets in contact with cosplay for the first time – if you are a cosplayer yourself and wear a decent costume, be prepared to explain the concept at least once. But it is definitely worth a visit at least once. 

If you are more like me and are not too keen on contact with strangers you should avoid Saturdays. After Corona my friend and I decided to take the additional vacation day and go on Thursdays. The pro of this: you can actually get to the booths and see the books. The con: seemingly everyone had this idea by now, because Leipzig book fair 2025 was crowded as well. I personally don’t want to know how bad it was on Saturday if it was already that bad on Thursday. 

However, Leipzig book fair is always worth a visit. Why? Because there is literally something for everyone. You can get a glimpse at new books and at antiquites (for some years Leipzig book fair has an antiquity-market included). You can get fiction and non-fiction. You can get school and science books next to mangas and comics. You need music sheets? You will find them. You want to have some lovely painted children books – you can have them. You want to know what is going on in other countries (that you eventually haven’t even thought of in a literary context) – there is half a hall just for you. For some years – in the attempt to split the masses – the halls were extended. The result was that merchandise was included. So, you want to have Japanese cutlery – go to Leipzig Buchmesse. One hall is dedicated to small artists that show their own art. So, if you want to support small artists, even then you can go to Leipzig Buchmesse. 

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But let’s go back to the books. There are a lot of books. So if you are a compulsive buyer of books, you might get a little poor. But the good news – you can also get great bargains. This year I bought two books for 3 Euros each and I got one for free – where do you still get books for free? If you are like me, who basically runs out of books several times per year and you don’t know what you want to read next, Leipzig book fair offers you a great deal of reading probes of all kinds. The nice side, not only well-known authors are there, but also small authors and publishers that are not that commonly seen. So it is great to find new amazing authors that tell stories off the mainstream. 

Although it is “Leipzig book fair” it is highly international. I already mentioned that there is half a hall dedicated to books from other countries. Each year there is also a special guest – in 2025 that was Norway. How many Norwegian authors do you know? I promise you – you would have gotten to know more. Or are you more interested in Romanian literature or Czech? The focus is mostly on Europe but American literature you will find nearly everywhere. 

So what did I get in the Leipzig book fair 2025? I already said that I got two books and one for free. I also got about a million reading probes which I still need to check. Additionally, I added a bunch of books to my reading list. And I got in contact with the Munich writers association which I might join. So, as I said, you will find anything.