Helsinki Book Fair Breaks Its Attendance Record With 112,214 Visitors

The Helsinki Book Fair has broken its attendance record, with 112,214 visitors over four days. Messukeskus, the Helsinki exhibition centre that runs the fair, announced the figure on October 25, the final day of this year's event. That count includes the Wine and Food fair held in the same venue at the same time, as it does every year.

Attendance has now grown for five years in a row. Last year's fair drew 104,516 people, so this year's number is up a little more than 7%. The organizer calls the Helsinki Book Fair the largest literary event in the Nordic countries, and it ran from October 22 to 25 at Messukeskus.

More stages, more programme

The fair put on more than 1,000 programme items this year, a record, across 17 stages, with more than 2,000 performers taking part. Online tickets let people stream sessions from home, and those streams were watched 15,000 times during the fair, roughly the same as in 2025. Two of the main stages will stay available online until the end of the year for a €14 web ticket.

This year's theme was language, and Messukeskus said talks about translation and language turned out to be among the audience's favourites. To make room for the crowds, the fair also took over an extra hall for the first time.

It was the last fair for programme director Ville Blåfield. "It's great to end my term as programme director with such a successful fair and a good result," he said in the announcement (quotes here are The Publishing Times' translations from the Finnish). He pointed to the sheer size of the programme as what sets Helsinki apart from the bigger international fairs. "In Helsinki, the fair is made from start to finish for the general public," he said, "and once again we reached that general public."

What publishers saw on the floor

The release also carried comments from two of Finland's biggest publishers, and both talked about sales as well as crowds.

Eva Reenpää, chief executive of Otava, said the mood at the Otava stand had been high. "The importance of the printed book is growing, and readers have really valued meeting authors," she said. "Book sales have also grown along with the rise in attendance."

Timo Julkunen, chief executive of WSOY, said the extra interest showed up in packed audiences at the stages and in long signing queues. One of the most popular guests, he said, was the French writer Édouard Louis, whose books nearly sold out after a signing session that ran close to two hours.

Tanja Pasila, the fair's business manager, said the growth reflected the event's place as Finland's biggest culture and book fair, and the book trade's shared drive to keep developing it.

Next year

Messukeskus will hold the next Helsinki Book Fair from October 28 to 31, 2027, again in partnership with the Finnish Book Publishers Association and the Finnish Booksellers' Association. An antiquarian book fair runs alongside it.

Why it matters for writers

It's easy to read the book business only through sales charts and online retail. Helsinki is a reminder that live events still move books. A fair aimed at ordinary readers, not trade buyers, has added visitors five years running, and publishers there say the crowds translated into sales and signing lines. For authors weighing whether festivals and fairs are worth the travel, a record year in a country of about 5.6 million people is a useful data point. Translation and language drew the biggest interest, too, which is a good sign for writers whose work travels across borders.

Sources

• Messukeskus, October 25, 2026: Helsingin Kirjamessut rikkoi kävijäennätyksen – kävijöitä yli 112 000 (in Finnish)
• Helsinki Book Fair