If successful in its bid, Slovenia would be only the third Slavic nation showcased as a guest of honour in the 30-year history of the title and the first since Russia over 15 years ago.

Opening on Wednesday, this year's edition of the fair features some 7,200 exhibitors with Indonesia as the guest of honour. The Slovenian Book Agency has organised a joint presentation of Slovenian publishers.

The agency's delegation will present a comprehensive plan of Slovenia's potential showcase as a guest of honour to the Frankfurt Fair director Jürgen Boos on Thursday.

This is after the agency presented the activities pertaining to the bid to the management of the fair last year. The government has allocated EUR 2.5m for the project.

The author of the plan setting out Slovenia's vision of the bid, Renata Zamida, says the guests of honour until 2019 have already been chosen, so Slovenia could vie for the title for 2020 or 2021 at the earliest.

This year, the latest production selected by more than 30 Slovenian publishers, will be showcased at a 32 m2 stall under the sponsorship of the Slovenian Book Agency.

The publishers have also provided foreign-language catalogues and other promotion material for the authors of the Kresnik Prize for fiction in 2010-2015 and other authors in the spotlight in recent times.

A presentation of a selection of the authors' works translated into foreign languages will be also available at the stall as will be the latest subsidised translations, among other things.