World's largest book fair thanks Harry Potter

FRANKFURT, Germany (Reuters) -- The world's largest book fair on Tuesday thanked teenage wizard Harry Potter for helping to rear a new generation of eager young readers around the globe.

The organizers of the Frankfurt Fair, which has attracted almost 7,000 exhibitors from 107 countries, cited Potter's gripping exploits as living proof that the book is not dead yet in the age of electronic media.

Roland Ulmer, president of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, said J.K. Rowling's bestsellers "could be a sign that the pendulum is beginning to swing back towards greater enthusiasm for reading among the younger generation."

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"The book is not yesterday's product," he told a news conference launching the fair, the publishing industry's leading marketplace, where 80 percent of every year's rights deals are clinched.

Germany is the latest country to be gripped by Harry Potter fever. With the publication of "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire," half the initial print run of 1 million flew off the shelves on the first day of sale last week.

Frankfurt Book Fair organizers cited the popularity of Harry Potter as one reason for optimism in the book industry

Bookshops have staged sleepovers to cash in on the Potter fever. Manuscripts have had to be kept in bank vaults and Hollywood is jumping on the wizard bandwagon with a film of book one.

Ulmer felt that the Potter phenomenon was just one cause for optimism in the publishing industry.

He cited a Bertelsmann Foundation study that showed the number of frequent readers among adults, those happily devouring more than 20 books a year, had also risen.

Exhibition organizer Hubertus Schenkel was equally upbeat about the international outlook.

"The American book market is currently expanding at a good 5 percent a year and that is expected to carry through to 2004. In fact, children's books have recently seen growth rates of more than 10 percent," he said.

"Not even Harry Potter manages that on his own, for all his magical skills," he said.

But the Frankfurt organizers were at pains to stress that they are not turning their backs on the communications revolution being created on the information superhighway.

One in four Frankfurt exhibitors is from the electronic media and the organizers have set up a "virtual book fair" on the Internet--- www.frankfurt-book-fair.com -- to act as an electronic marketing tool for publishers.

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