FILPM closes with more than 70 thousand attendees; “Children and youth audiences increased”

The International Book Fair of the Palacio de Minería (FILPM), which concluded yesterday, received more than 70 thousand attendees for 10 days, among whom the young audience and children increased, said its director, Mercedes Alvarado. About 83 thousand people attended the previous edition.

The writer, who as of this year heads the editorial meeting, mentioned that for three years the editorial meeting has been renewed, which in that period has reduced the cost for exhibitors by around 40 percent. “An average price, if you compare it with the other fairs that take place in Mexico City. It is not onerous.”

The fair, which began last February 20 and had the state of Sonora as a guest, has the purpose of “making the readers’ experience better and better,” said Alvarado, who added that, in addition to going to look for books, on this occasion more than 27 thousand people attended some of the more than 1,200 activities led by at least 2,800 specialists, writers, cultural promoters and others.

After announcing that the 48th edition of the FILPM will take place from February 26 to March 7, 2027, the writer highlighted that among the events scheduled this year that attracted the most audiences were those starring Elsa Cross, Kyra Galván, Evodio Escalante, Aline Pettersson, Aura García-Junco and Alma Delia Murillo.

The five concerts of the Sesiones en Minería cycle, the tributes to Jaime Sabines and Armida de la Vara, and the literature cycle in indigenous languages, starring the very representative Mikeas Sánchez, Fernanda Lorenzo and Natalia Toledo, among other authors, were also very well attended, Alvarado continued.

The poet also said: “we have had a very good reception. Much more young audiences and many more children, in response to the almost 70 workshops focused on them, and to the reading space.”

The investment in the fair was about 11 million pesos, reported Alvarado, who stated that the success of an editorial meeting is also in “what it means, because what we do here is cultural dissemination of books and reading.”

He added that they had more than 500 publishers and 186 exhibitors, including 42 stamps that were at the fair for the first time, as well as 45 universities and higher education institutions in the country.

Beatriz Aldaco, director of the Sonoran Institute of Culture, commented that her participation in 2026 “was not only editorial, but an affirmation of identity. We brought an exhibition, with a very good curatorship, with rigor, literature, historical research, social sciences, critical thinking, young voices, consolidated authors and expressions of our original peoples.”

He reported that their pavilion had 15 thousand visitors, 216 people participated in 87 activities and a thousand copies of the titles exhibited were sold.