I went to a talk about freedom of speech and censorship and self-censorship in the western world first, and it was a huge disappointment, just generic blah-blah about how anyone saying anything outside the "liberal" canvas is terribly abused. I almost wished there'd be questions from the audience. even though I probably wouldn't dare voice mine

then I had half an hour before a discussion about literary criticism and went to a hall with german publishers and it was so crowded I couldn't really get anywhere. by the time of the discussion I thought I didn't want to get back to the norway hall and went to a tour about comics instead, it was in a closer hall. but turned out it was a real walking tour and I was more in a mood to sit down so I went to another stand to listen to a presentation on bookblogs/bookstagrams/booktubes but instead there was a talk about someone's book. and a few other people in the audience were confused as well, probably a mistake in the program online. but it was too late to get back to the discussion about literary criticism, it was just a half an hout talk, so I didn't get to fulfill eithe of my plant for that time slot

and I had some time till the cosplay competition so I decided to eat and come to the stage early to grab a seat. but there were very few seats for a 3-hour contest and I wanted neither to fight for them nor to stand, especially since in one and half an hour a discussion about female authors was starting. I really like the title: "artists, fighters, cosmopolites: women writing the 21st century". so I thought I'd try my luck in the hall with german publishers again, this time slower. I mainly wanted to get to drachenmond and sternensand publishers because they have the best book covers and you never find them in stores, I thought I could take pictures for my instagram.

buuuuut. the drachenmond stand wasn't an open kind of stand as I expected, they'd hand you the books over the counters. and there was a signing at the moment. I was to cowardly to disturb.

and the sternensand was indeed an open stand but there were SO many people there. in short I didn't get any pictures made there either. not that I fought against the crowd, I just opted out of the idea altogether

still had time left so I went to the international publishers' section, talked to an israeli self-published author for a while. international publishers stands are empty for the most part. even the harper collins stand, the hugest and most central in the english-language hall only had a few visitors. maybe the asian ones aren't as emply because of cosplay and manga but the european were. didn't got to those from eastern/central/southern europe or to african and arab countries because my legs were sore by the time XD

went outside for the air. filmed some cosplayers. felt how tired I was. and just decided to leave home. and did so.

now I regret not going to the talks about women in literature and literary criticism. somehow a few initial misfortunes discouraged me so much that I simply missed the best stuff, actually sabotaged it. I'd spent two days building my own program of cool talks and presentations I wanted to attend.

for the next time I'll try to plan better according to the halls. it's a challenge because the things that are interesting to me tend to happen at the opposite sides of the fair, but what I can do is pay more attention to time slots where nothing is happening, and don't rush to publishers across the whole fair if I only have half an hour, but rather spend this time somewhere closer to the next destination, maybe outside. and instead go to farther stands when I have more time. also plan where I can sit. shouldn't be a problem with discussions happening often. but if I have an hour or two of no specific events, it's good to know where to rest.