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Norway

Crown Princess Mette-Marit opens Frankfurt Book Fair

Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany on Wednesday alongside her husband, Crown Prince Haakon.

The couple had been on a literature train with Norwegian authors travelling from Berlin to Cologne and on to Frankfurt where the world’s largest book fair was finally opened.

The Royal Court said that 2,000 were in attendance and an expected 300,000 are estimated to visit the book fair in the coming days.

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Her Royal Highness read “It’s That Dream” poem by Olav H. Hauge which has been described as Norway’s best poem; it also inspired the slogan for the book fair.

The Crown Prince Couple were joined by Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway who spoke at the event saying, in part, “When I read books, it’s not because I want to read about people like me. It’s to learn about others. And to learn about how others experience their meetings with my culture. There are many things I will never experience first-hand. Literature can make up for this.”

The book fair has a Norwegian pavilion which Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit visited after the opening. It features books by hundreds of Norwegian authors with a record over 500 Norwegian books being translated into German this year for the fair.

The Frankfurt Book Fair goes back to 1478 and has a total of 4,000 events today. While Norwegian literature is the focus of 2019, it also has exhibitors from over 100 countries.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit is a passionate advocate for literature and became the ambassador for Norwegian literature abroad in 2017. In the past, she has hosted a literature train in Norway, but this year, she hosted a literature metro in Oslo to share her love of books with the Norwegian people.

About author

Brittani is from Tennessee, USA. She is a political scientist and historian after graduating with a degree in the topics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in December 2014. She also holds a master's degree from Northeastern University. She enjoys reading and researching all things regarding the royals of the world. She's been researching, reading, and writing on royalty for over a decade. She became Europe Editor in October 2016, and then Deputy Editor in January 2019, and has been featured on several podcasts, radio shows, news broadcasts and websites including Global News Canada, ABC News Australia, WION India and BBC World News.