This content was published on April 18, 2022 – 17:26 April 18, 2022 – 17:26
Bogotá, 18 April (EFE).- Colombian books and readers will gather in the country’s capital from this Tuesday for the XXXIV. Bogotá International Book Fair (FILBo), which returns in person after two years of pandemic and with South Korea as a guest.
From April 19 to May 2, a delegation of more than a hundred South Korean writers, editors, artists and academics will be in Bogotá with a call for coexistence as the central theme of FILBo.
The motto of this edition of the fair is “Come back so you can come back”, in reference to the virtual format that the book festival had to adopt during the health crisis.
Around 500 guests from 30 countries will gather at FILBo, which will include more than 1,600 in-person events at the Corferias venue and a hundred activities in other spaces of the Colombian capital, in addition to the editorial and commercial exhibition.
“For this edition, after the lockdown, we have international guests again, which allows us to strengthen the publishing industry,” said Andrés López Valderrama, Executive President of Corferias.
RETURN TO PRESENCE
The last two editions of FILBo have been held virtually, with more than 123,000 people connected in 2020 and last year reaching 1,805,000 people over 17 days of the fair, numbers expected to regain momentum with the return to in-person activities.
According to the executive president of the Colombian Chamber of Books, Emiro Aristizábal, in this edition of FILBo they hope to “repeat the numbers of 2019”, the last year before the pandemic, and to “have 600,000 people gathered around the book” in Bogotá.
For this, almost 400 exhibitors, including publishers, dealers and booksellers, have prepared their catalogs to be displayed during the 14 days of the fair, while visitors can meet their favorite authors at lectures, workshops and book signings.
INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION
From South Korea, the arrival in Bogotá of Eun Heekyung, author of The Gift of the Bird; You-Jeong Jeong (“The Good Son”); Kim Kyung-uk (“The Hour Between Dog and Wolf”); Suzy Lee (“The Wave, My Paint Shop”); Among others, Kim Hyoeun (“On the Subway”) and Han Kang (“The Vegetarian”).
FILBo’s invitation this year also coincides with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Colombia and South Korea.
Among the international guests, the Romanian writer Mircea Cartarescu stands out, who will talk about writing, dreams and reality with the Colombian writer Santiago Gamboa in the series “Conversations that will change his life”.
In the same dialogue series, Colombian writer Piedad Bonnett and Brazilian Tiago Ferro discuss the pain of loss in literature; while Spaniard JJ Benítez, author of the Trojan Horse saga, will speak to his biographer Antonio Erazo.
The Argentine actress and writer Camila Sosa and the Peruvian author Gabriela Wiener will also be guests in a colloquium on literature and theatre. From the Latin American scene, the Chilean Isabel Allende will also be present, who will be taking part in the Bogotá Book Festival for the first time with a conversation with the journalist Claudia Morales.
FILBo will also dedicate several activities to the Truth Commission charged with preparing the report on the causes and origins of the armed conflict in Colombia, on which there will be conferences and colloquia. EFE
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