The Madrid Bookstore Association dismisses Eva Orúe as director of the Madrid Book Fair

The Association of Madrid Bookstores announced this Monday the dismissal of Eva Orúe as director of the Madrid Book Fair.

As FLMadrid sources have explained to Europa Press, Pablo Bonet will be the director of the event “until further notice.” Thus, they have specified that from now on a selection process will be opened after the Bookstore Association holds the General Assembly this Thursday.

The entity brings together more than 130 independent bookstores in the region that have been informed this morning of the dismissal of Orúe, who had held this position since 2022.

The Madrid Bookstore Association thanked him in a statement for “his five years of work, dedication and commitment.” “We are talking about five editions of the Madrid Book Fair that have been held under his responsibility, and in which important advances have been made in areas as relevant as sustainability and cultural programming,” adds the president of the Association of Madrid Bookstores and Madrid Book Fair, Luis M. Tigeras.

THREE CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF DECLINE IN FLMADRID’S TURNOVER

Furthermore, in its last edition at the helm, Orúe has closed the 85th Madrid Book Fair with a turnover of 9,862,888 euros, 2.7% less than last year, and the sale of 587,014 copies, nearly 8,000 less than in the previous edition.

This figure is less than what was invoiced during Orúe’s first year in management, when 10,207,000 euros were reached.

The 2026 event has been marked by the coincidence with the visit of Pope Leo XIV, several massive concerts by Bad Bunny and different episodes of heat, rain and storms in the capital.

In 2025, the Fair concluded with a business volume that exceeded 10,140,955 euros and with the sale of more than 595,000 copies corresponding to some 170,000 different titles.

However, this figure already represented a small decrease compared to the data for 2024, when the 83rd Fair closed with a business volume of more than 10.8 million euros. The sale of copies was higher in 2025, compared to 585,000 books in 2024.

Before, in 2023 the sales volume was even higher, reaching 11,188,000 euros and exceeding 600,000 copies sold. It was an increase in business volume 9.6% more than in the previous year in 2022.

Orúe’s first year at the head of the management was precisely in 2022, when the total sales made at the 81st FLMadrid amounted to 10,207,000 euros, which represented an increase of 2% compared to 2019.

WITHDRAWAL OF A TALK ABOUT THE SAHARA

Among the latest controversies of this Madrid event is that of the recent 2026 edition, when the organization decided to withdraw from its programming the talk entitled ‘Sahara: heritage, identity and paths of development in the light of contemporary transformations’, scheduled for this afternoon.

In this context, the director of the Madrid Book Fair, Eva Orúe, explained to Europa Press that the approach of the event “seemed more innocuous” but that, after receiving two complaints (from a journalist and a professor), they realized that “it was unacceptable that they assumed that Western Sahara was Moroccan, contrary to what the UN says.”

“In a fair with more than 400 activities, we had missed this one, the approach seemed more innocuous. It is an activity that we should not have scheduled, we have suspended it and we have to apologize to both the public and the sponsor,” acknowledged Orúe.

In 2023, Orúe had to face criticism prior to the celebration of the 82nd edition from some independent publishers. The then director explained in statements to Europa Press that they took “note” of the “attention” call launched, for example, by three Madrid bookstores, which called ‘Fair without Books’ with ten publishers “absent” from the literary event.