From April 18 to May 2, the Bogotá International Book Fair returns. The event, organized by the Colombian Book Chamber and Corferias, will feature authors from the United States, France, Italy, Israel, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Likewise, several of them will participate in the more than 90 FILBo events, which will bring a rich cultural program to bookstores, libraries and schools in Bogotá, as well as in FILBo Región, an initiative that will reach Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellin, Pasto, Pereira and Popayan.
Emiro Aristizábal, president of the Colombian Book Chamber, told EL NUEV SIGLO that this year Colombian publishers will have an important participation, with a large stand that will occupy the second floor of Corferias.
“This year the Fair brings some important arguments for people to come. It is an opportunity to delve into the world of books, in addition to getting to know the literature of Mexico, which is our guest country of honor and which comes with a delegation of almost 300 people with a very specific sample of its culture. In addition, we are going to have more than 2,000 cultural events, including talks, round tables, symposiums; This is how for two weeks we will be taking a tour of all these two cultures: the Mexican and ours”, highlighted Aristizábal.
The president of the Colombian Book Chamber also pointed out that in this edition there are many participating Colombian publishers with new books and new editorial bets.
“In this edition we have two important things to highlight: the first is that there is a business conference of international visitors who come to buy Colombian publishing rights to take our letters abroad, so that is something important in the sense that it is a opportunity for national publishers to showcase their product. On the other hand, we are going to have the Colombia pavilion, dedicated exclusively to the regions, and we will also have publishers from Cali, which is our guest city. The idea is that in this pavilion all the regions will be able to show their books and their authors”, mentioned Aristizábal.
international writers
The Fair recently formally launched the agenda for these two weeks of meetings, in which some of the international names added to those already announced were announced, such as the British Richard Firth-Godbehere, researcher and associate member of the Center for History of the Emotions; American David Wallace-Wells, one of the most prolific voices on climate change; the Nigerian novelist, short story writer and feminist non-fiction writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the Quebecois novelist and chef of Vietnamese origin, nominated for the Alternative Nobel Prize for Literature, Kim Thúy.
Voices of relevance in the Latin American scene will also participate, such as the Argentine chronicler Martín Caparrós and the world reference in neuroscience Mariano Sigman; the Chilean journalist, writer and translator Arelis Uribe; the Ecuadorian novelist Mónica Ojeda, the Mexican writer and filmmaker Guillermo Arriaga and also from Mexico the renowned speaker Daniel Habif will be at the FILBo.
Regarding children’s and youth literature, there will be the Argentinean María Teresa Andruetto, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen award; the Chilean writer Sara Bertrand, the Brazilian illustrator Mariana Massarani, the Czech Renáta Fučíková, the versatile French artist Benjamin Lacombe and the Venezuelan storyteller Jacqueline Goldberg.
Colombian guests
Some of the Colombian guests are Juan Miguel Álvarez, Vito Apüshana, Piedad Bonnett, Ana Lucía Caicedo, Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo, Santiago Gamboa, Carlos Granés, Marita Lopera, Óscar Pantoja, Pilar Posada, Pilar Quintana, Carolina Sanín, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Jorge Velosa and Velia Vidal.
Likewise, several of the authors will participate in the more than 90 events of FILBo Ciudad, which will bring cultural programming to bookstores, libraries and schools in Bogotá.
some events
graphic narratives (Hall 8, level 2): in this space will be the editorial offer of comics, graphic novels and manga.
Caricature and illustration (pavilion 1, level 2): in this space, shared with Colsubsidio, the best caricaturists in the country will come together to draw live.
Sala FILBo LIJ: Activities related to the promotion of children’s and youth literature will be carried out in this room.
Mexican literature and culture
Mexico, the guest of honor country, will bring together great exponents of Mexican literature, music and graphic arts in the Mexico Pavilion, which was designed under the concept “Roots and encounters: for a future of peace for our America” and will be a space destined for dialogue and encounter between cultures. The Mexican presence will commemorate four fundamental milestones in its culture and history: the 90th anniversary of the Economic Culture Fund, the 100th anniversary of Mexican muralism, the 100th anniversary of the death of Francisco Villa, a revolutionary hero, and the 200th anniversary of the signature of the Treaty of Union, League and Perpetual Confederation between Mexico and Colombia.
The literary program will feature more than 80 well-known personalities in different literary genres and other disciplines, such as Paco Ignacio Taibo II, one of the most important authors of crime novels in Latin America; Juan Villoro, chronicler and literary journalist; Gabriela Jáuregui, Mexican writer, poet and literary critic; Vivian Mansour, writer of children’s and youth literature, and Alejandro Magallanes, artist, poet and designer. In addition, a tribute will be paid to Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian Nobel Prize winner, who lived in Mexico and greatly influenced the universal literary scene. All the books by the guests, and by many more authors, will be available in two bookstores inside the pavilion: one dedicated to the general public and another dedicated to children’s books.
Among the artists in charge of making the musical and cultural wealth of Mexico visible at FILBo, the Ballet Foklórico of Amalia Hernández, Lucía Pulido with a show of Mexican and Colombian music, the son jarocho group Mono Blanco, which will be presented with the Semillero Creativo, stand out. Dance, among others. In addition, there will be three exhibitions of plastic and visual arts, a sample of Mexican crafts and a gastronomic bar.
academic days
Between April 19 and 29 there will be the 13 FILBo Professional Conferences scheduled for 2023, events for which the Fair is internationally recognized. This is a series of activities that attend to all the actors in the book chain, publishers, illustrators, proofreaders, translators, etc., in which seminars, talks, congresses and the International Business Show will be held. The Journalism Meeting will also be held, with activities between April 20 and 22.
