The 2021 Nobel Prize winner, Abdulrazak Gurnah, heads the 850 authors invited to the FIL

Guadalajara, Jal., Abdulrazak Gurnah, the Tanzanian who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021, heads the list of at least 850 writers from 43 countries and 19 languages ​​who will be present at the 38th edition of the International Book Fair (FIL ) of Guadalajara, to be held from November 30 to December 8.

When the general program of FIL activities was presented this Tuesday at the Museum of Arts of the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), it was reported that authors such as the Hungarian László Krasznahorkai (one of the leaders in predictions for the Nobel Prize, which will be announced this Thursday, recently winner of the Formentor Prize for Letters), Irene Vallejo, Jordi Sierra i Fabra, Luis García Montero, Nouri Al-Jarrah, Ioana Pârvulescu, Dylan Brennan, Claudia Durastanti and Cristina Rivera Garza.

In addition, Luis Mateo Díez, Elia Barceló, María Dueñas, Sergio Ramírez, Samuel Shimon, María Fernanda Ampuero, Antonio Ortuño, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Gioconda Belli, Joana Marcús and Alice Kellen, among others.

Spain will be the guest country of honor. Marisol Schulz, director of the FIL, estimated that at least 800 thousand people will attend Expo Guadalajara, headquarters of the fair, attracted by a program that contains more than 3 thousand literary, academic, artistic and professional activities.

Jordi Martí Grau, Secretary of State for Culture of Spain, who was present at the press conference, confirmed that the Spanish delegation will be made up of at least 200 writers, of which (after Sergio Ramírez was appointed commissioner of the delegation) At least 25 percent will be of Latin American origin.

Conjunctural moment

Karla Planter, rector of the University Center of Los Altos of the UdeG and executive coordinator of FIL Pensamiento, stated that the academic program of the fair will allow a deep reflection on the relationships of all kinds between Spain and Mexico throughout history, at a cyclical moment like the one experienced between both countries due to diplomatic differences.

The program highlighted the presentation of the 2024 Romance Languages ​​Literature Prize to the Mozambican Mia Couto, while Rosa Montero and Fernando Aramburu will open the Carlos Fuentes Literary Salon.

The Tribute to Editorial Merit will go to the Mexican editor Patricia van Rhijn; Jesús Alberto Arellano will receive the Tribute to the Librarian, while Carmen López-Portillo will receive the Tribute to the Bibliophile José Luis Martínez.

Other awards, such as La Catrina, will go to the Mexican cartoonist Darío Castillejos, while the ArpaFIL Tribute will be dedicated to the Spanish architect Iñaki Ábalos.

Among the literary programs that will take place at the FIL are the Festival of European Letters, Latin America Viva, the International Meeting of Storytellers, Galas for the Pleasure of Reading, Naming Central America because Central America Counts and Destinação Brasil.

Dialogue tables were announced to present the literature of Chile, Colombia, Quebec, Galicia, Italy, Sweden, Finland and the Caribbean. The Poetry Hall will also be part of the literary exhibition that will arrive in Guadalajara and will offer the participation of 26 authors from nine countries.

There will be 623 book presentations

In total, the FIL program will offer 623 book presentations, which were highlighted during the press conference The deserter, de Abdulrazak Gurnah; The new strawberry fields, by Jordi Sierra i Fabra; Illustrated stories for children and young people, by Irene Vallejo; The golden horse, by Sergio Ramírez; Visceral, by María Fernanda Ampuero; In the kingdom of the sacred bull, by Jordi Soler; A silence full of murmurs, de Gioconda Belli; Yarek’s world, by Elia Barceló; either Spoon and memory, by Benito Taibo.

In the FIL Pensamiento program there will be intellectuals such as Rita Segato, Ernest Urtasun, Manuel Castells, Íñigo Errejón, Joumana Haddad, Yolanda Díaz, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Ely Guerra, Gianfranco Pasquino, Yásnaya Aguilar, Adina Chelminsky, Maruan Soto Antaki and Alan Riding, among more than 200 guests of 12 nationalities.

Furthermore, with the motto Round tripthe guest country of honor, Spain, will have a pavilion with more than 1,200 square meters, designed with the principles of plurality, diversity and sustainability, said Secretary Martí Grau, in which at least 15 thousand copies will be exhibited, and readers , authors, artists and professionals will meet on a symbolic transatlantic journey.

Spain’s literary program is coordinated by the Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramírez and will have a delegation of 229 participants, such as Irene Vallejo, Rosa Montero, Fernando Aramburu, Elia Barceló, Luis García Montero, Jordi Sierra i Fabra, María Dueñas, Joana Marcus, Alice Kellen and Luis Mateo Díez.

During the nine nights of the FIL, Spain will present artists such as Rodrigo Cuevas, Ruper Ordorika, SÉS, Javier Ruibal, Christina Rosenvinge, Joe Crepúsculo & Tomasito, Camilo Lara, María José Llergo, Califato Tres Cuartos and Miguel Poveda in the musical forum, In addition to the exhibitions Foodscapesin the Museum of Arts of the UdeG; Fictions: Narrativity in contemporary artat the Zapopan Art Museum, and Reading by contact: Poetic experimentation in Spain, 1962-1972 at the Cabañas Museum.