The economic crisis due to the health emergency caused a lower presence of national and international publishers and thus less revenue for the fair.
The 35th edition of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), in western Mexico, concluded this Sunday with the attendance of almost 252,000 people, an economic deficit and the change of post office emirate of Sharjah, who will be the guest of honor in 2022.
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Despite the reduction in capacity compared to the period before the pandemic and less attendance from international publishers, the fair closed a hybrid edition in which the 70% of the 1,621 activities were face-to-face and in which the emotion of the face-to-face reunion prevailed, as he said at a press conference Raul Padilla, president of the fair, considered the most important Spanish-speaking fair.
He explained that of the 251,900 attendees, 205,000 gathered at the Expo Guadalajara, the main fairground in which strict sanitary protocols were applied, two hours were implemented for visitors and the corridors were expanded to avoid the conglomeration of people.
The decrease in the number of attendees is significant compared to the almost 850,000 people who entered in previous editions, but this allowed “an extraordinary flow and management” of people that prevented any case of contagion of covid-19 from being presented at the fair and, in addition, favored sales, Padilla stressed.
There was “an important health fence” to protect guests and attendees, said Marisol Schulz, FIL’s general director, who explained that they implemented a protocol to carry out 2,649 covid-19 detection tests among visitors, in addition to another 128 to visitors. guests who required it to return to their country of origin, and all tests were negative.
This year the program was nurtured by 450 book presentations, 50 of them in virtual format, 232 literary and academic forums and 81 activities for professionals.
The fair was the meeting point for 1,223 publishers from 37 countries that offered 240,000 titles in the exhibition area, in addition to 3,278 book professionals and 35 literary agents from 27 agencies.
Less publishers and income
The economic crisis due to the health emergency caused a lower presence of national and international publishers and thus less revenue for the fair, that he had to offer discounts so that publishers could bring their titles on display, Padilla revealed.
He explained that the fair had an investment of 105 million pesos (about 7 million dollars) with a loss of 18 million pesos ($ 850,000) that they hope to counteract in the 2022 edition, when they can carry out an edition as similar to that of 2019, the last one before the pandemic.
“We were wondering if the publishing industry would have a chance to come, because of how hard the pandemic has hit the cultural industries, that is why we had as part of it to show solidarity with a huge discount that we already knew that, wherever we looked, we we were going to go to deficit “he explained.
Look at the Arab world
Peru leaves the fair with a successful participation and good numbers in attendance at cultural and business activities.
The pavilion offered 1,700 titles with 25,000 copies from 110 publishers and 65 round tables, conferences and recitals, in addition to the shows that were displayed in various forums.
Maria Teresa Villeda, commercial advisor of the economic promotion agency PromPerú in Mexico, explained that the Andean country it achieved 280 business appointments and closed 34 business opportunities for 7.9 million pesos (380,000 dollars), 1.3 million of them related to sales of physical books and transfer of rights.
The wealth of the Andean country passed the baton to Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates, which will be the guest of honor in 2022 and which will display a sample of Arab culture in literary, academic, musical and plastic arts activities, said the president of Sharjah Book Authority Ahmad Al-Amari.
He pointed out that, despite the geographical distance, Mexico and this emirate “are closer than we can imagine” and that FIL will be an opportunity for more meetings and joint collaborations towards a human perspective “that unites them even more.
The 36th edition of FIL will be held from November 26 to December 4, 2022. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
