Vanessa Badroodien, Managing Director of the CTBF, said that as a result of the overwhelming response from publishers, exhibitors and visitors to the Fair, over 10 000 square metres of space has been booked for next year, more than double the size of the 2006 event.

?It is reassuring to be in the implementation phase of our second Cape Town Book Fair with most of our initial exhibitors already signed up for space at 2007.

?We are looking forward to consolidating the successes of our first fair and improving our event,? said Badroodien. ?In addition, we want to determine how we can expand the fair so that it makes a more significant impact on the Western Cape, both economically and creatively. This is one of our exciting challenges for 2007 and beyond.?

A joint venture between the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Publishing Association of South Africa (PASA), with headline sponsorship from the Sunday Times, the newspaper's General Manager Marketing Susan Russell said they were thrilled to once again be the headline sponsor of the Cape Town Book Fair.

One of the highlights of the 2007 CTBF will be a focus on book collections. Said Badroodien: ?Our theme of More than Black is the lightning rod around which we will compose our interesting book collections.

?We are in discussion with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, with the intention of having a Book Collection on the great icon. The focus of the accompanying programme will be Dialogue and Memory, key themes within the Foundation?s work. A second book collection will focus on Wine, given the city?s status as one of the top eight wine producing regions of the world. The intention is to showcase antiquarian as well as more contemporary books on wine. Authors such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens referred to Vin De Constance, produced at the time in our own Constantia Valley.?

Badroodien said the other Book Collections are to be Science Fiction and a Book Collection on Psychology as well as an African Classics collection.

Pavilions at the 2007 event will include a magical Children?s Zone, unseen to date in this country and a Comics Section aimed at all who read comics.

?I was amazed at the level of interest in South Africa about comics. Our research has shown that this genre is growing and although niche, it has a significant readership base, particularly amongst our youth. Local and imported graphic novels, comic strip and comics all allow for the unique representation of urban culture, science and realms of fantasy to co-exist. We believe that it?s important that we affirm and encourage children and youth who read and we will therefore devote a significant amount of space to support this ideal.

?An interesting addition is the incorporation of the magazine sector into the fair. With the proliferation of new magazines and the growing readership figures within this media sector, we felt it was important to allocate a specific section to them,? said Badroodien.

?It?s a small first step and we look forward to working with magazine publishers to expand this focus.?

?There will once again be a full programme of book readings, launches, signings and lectures as well as events for our younger readers. The 2006 Fair included some 313 events of which 23 were new book launches. Publishers are all negotiating the attendance of key authors to the event. Based on feedback from the 2006 event publishers, retailers and other exhibitors have been actively encouraged to sell to those attending.

?At the first fair, we had no idea what to expect from attendees ? you can be certain that we have listened to all feedback, not only the good,? said Badroodien.

Academic visitors to the Fair can expect to see African intellectualism, Cities re-imagined and A-literacy on a programme which covers the political, the literary and of course the publishing industry itself.

?We also have the privilege of being associated with two prestigious awards during the Fair viz. the Sunday Times Literary Awards ? which comprise the Alan Paton Non-Fiction Award and the Sunday Times Award for fiction ? and the Freedom to Publish prize of the International Publishers? Association,? said Badroodien.

?The Freedom to Publish prize is awarded annually to recognise a person or an institution that has made a notable contribution to the defense and promotion of freedom to publish anywhere in the world. This is only the second time that this prize has been awarded and we are honoured that it is in Cape Town 2007.?

Juergen Boos, CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair, said: ?The success of the first Cape Town Book Fair surpassed our expectations. It hosted 418 exhibitors from 36 countries; was visited by more than 26 000 people and attracted 2000 international trade visitors. It has placed Africa firmly on the international literary map and we are delighted to be returning to Cape Town in 2007.?

> The Cape Town Book Fair will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from June 16 to 19 2007. For further information, visit www.capetownbookfair.com. A final programme will be available by the middle of April 2007.