About 250 stands of varying sizes will be set up in a 1,600-square-metre space at the Budapest Congress and World Trade Center as well as area in the centre's atrium, Mr Zentai said. Some 500 publishers - each stand can be shared by several publishers - will be represented at the festival, including 200 Hungarian language publishers.
Although the official deadline for applying for a stand at the festival passed on January 15, applications are still being received. Zentai said none of the applications had been rejected, adding that every square centimeter of available space would be used.
Participants at the festival will come from 25 countries. This year's guests of honour will be the Italian writer Umberto Eco and the country of Canada. Among those countries returning to the festival are Germany, France, Portugal, Poland, Spain, Romania and Japan. China will come again after an absence, Zentai said, revealing that the country would be the guest of honour at next year's festival.
Canada is the first North American country to be a guest of honour at the festival. To mark the event, Hungarian publishers plan to present at the festival some 40 books by Canadian authors and 20 more about the country itself.
Zentai said the festival has long outgrown its space at the congress centre, and its organisers, the Hungarian Association of Publishers and Booksellers (MKKE), are looking for another venue. He noted that a decision on the matter would have to be well thought out, as the "soul of the festival" is to be found in the vast number of conference rooms which offer space for special programmes.
