The Czech Republic as the Guest of Honour
In 2026, the Czech Republic will be the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s most important book industry event. This prestigious opportunity follows on the success of 2019, when the Czech Republic stood out as the main guest country at the Leipzig Book Fair.
Preparations for the Czech guest of honour appearance are being led by the Moravian Library in Brno in cooperation with experts in the fields of literature, cultural management, and translation. The main goal is to present the best of Czech literature and culture and to show that contemporary Czech authors truly have something to offer the world.
Bid Book Project
Discover the Bid Book, which presents in detail the Czech Republic’s candidacy for the title of Guest of Honor at the 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair. The document summarizes the project's goals, main idea, dramaturgy, and key metaphor, which we want to reflect in the entire Czech program.
In the Bid Book, you can read about the state of the Czech book market, support for translations, and the presentation of Czech authors abroad. The Bid Book also shows how it will help raise international awareness of Czech literature.
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest of its kind, and the position of guest of honour means that the selected country receives long-term European or global attention both before and after the fair. Every year, the fair brings together more than 7,000 exhibitors, 300,000 visitors, and thousands of journalists.
Vision of the Czechia 2026
The purpose of being the guest of honour is to promote the publication of Czech literature abroad and to ensure its translation into major world languages such as English, German, and Spanish, as well as into less widely spoken languages. We would like to increase the number of foreign publishers publishing Czech works and support creativity, innovation, and modern formats.
Another equally important task is to strengthen Czech studies at universities, support cooperation with libraries and memory institutions, and present the Czech Republic as a culturally advanced democratic country firmly anchored in the EU. At the same time, we will focus on highlighting the role of translators who connect Czech literature with the world.
Motto of the Czechia 2026 project
The topic of the Czech presentation at the 2026 Frankfurt Book Fair is “Czechia – A Country on the Coast”. This metaphor, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, in which the author placed the Czech lands on the seacoast, symbolises the connection between Czech literature and the global “ocean of stories”.