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The Frankfurt International Book Fair will welcome an exposition that will incorporate "a full range of cultural diversity" of Catalan-speaking territories, as is evident in the contract that directs the participation of Catalan Culture in the edition of the festival to be celebrated October 10 to 14, 2007. The contract was signed this morning in Frankfurt by the Counselor of Culture and acting director of the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), Caterina Mieras, and the director of the Frankfurt International Book Fair, Juergen Boos, in the presence of the director of the IRL, Xavier Folch.
De la Bellacasa, Folch, Mieras, Ehling, Boos, Boix, and Sanglas.
The accord stipulates that the IRL is committed to produce an exposition that "incorporates a full range of the cultural diversity and differing opinions that consider the different cultural identities existing among the Catalan-speaking territories." Thus, according to the contract, the presentation of Catalan Culture in Frankfurt "must include all Catalan-speaking territories."
One of the specific missions that the contract attributes to the presentation of the guest of honor is "to make the culture and contemporary literature known to the general public and the mass media, including those writers and artists who do not reside in their country of origin." According to the accord, the IRL must guarantee the inclusion of "the Catalan writers and the Catalan artists who do not express themselves in Catalan."
Proposal before the end of the year
The Institut Ramon Llull will organize a cultural program that will be presented in Frankfurt and the principal cities of Germany parallel to the Book Fair. According to the accord, this program will include "exhibitions, a retrospective film series, concerts and performances staged by invited theater companies of recognized quality in the field of Catalan culture." The IRL will deliver to the Ausstellungs und Messe (AuM), the organizing body of the Book Fair of Frankfurt, a preliminary draft of the proposal of the presentation of the guest of honor before December 31st this year.
On their part, the AuM will take on, among other things, the commitment to compile an international collection of Books on Catalan Culture published outside of Catalan-speaking countries, that is to say, translated Catalan literature and books on Catalan culture. The collection will form a part of the presentation of the guest of honor at the Festival.
The AuM also is committed to make a Forum Level 1, or an area equivalent to 2,500 square meters, available to the Institut Ramon Llull free of charge for the presentation of the guest of honor at the Frankfurt Festival precincts.
Also present for the contract signing event were: the presidents of the Guild of Catalan Publishers and of the Association of Catalan Language Publishers, Josep Maria Puig de la Bellacasa and Manuel Sanglas, respectively; director of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries (ICIC), Xavier Marcé; and the director of the Institution of the Catalan Letters (ILC), Jaume Subirana.
Later that same afternoon during her visit to Frankfurt, the counselor expects to visit the Korean pavilion, the guest of honor of this year's edition of the Festival. In the morning, Caterina Mieras visited the booths of the Association of Catalan Language Publishers, the ICIC and the IRL.
