Eight years ago, the Book Fair Network was created in Colombia, which today brings together 17 fairs. There are approximately 10 others that will soon be part of the group that is coordinated by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge, the National Library and the Colombian Chamber of Books.
Think, then, of at least 27 fair projects that are developed in municipalities and capital cities of the country with diverse emphases and that support the proposals associated with the book ecosystem and other expressions of culture. Some are big, others small, each one impacts different audiences, some have robust institutional and business support, others suffer the pain of obtaining resources and, in the end, being clear that no fair is the same as the other, there is a common purpose: serve the community.
The first semester starts like this: Chocó, under the leadership of the Motete cultural corporation, is the department that three years ago, in the month of March, cut the ribbon for the openings of the fairs. Bahía Solano, Istmina and Quibdó are dressed in books and music around Flecho, Chocó’s Reading and Writing Festival. From the Pacific gives way to the Bogotá International Book Fair -FILBo-, which opened its doors yesterday (see programming) and this year it will surprise its audience with Brazil as the guest country and with a lineup of authors of the highest international recognition.
The second semester continues like this: from June to December, the Network is activated with book fairs in Cartagena, Santa Marta, Bucaramanga, Cúcuta, San Andrés, Itagüí, El Retiro, Medellín, Ipiales, Pasto, Manizales, Popayán , Pereira, Cali and Montería. And, along with the Network, they continue their process of training and seducing audiences, among others, the Honda, Barrancabermeja, Barranquilla, Armenia and Mompox fairs.
The organization of a book fair, regardless of whether it is international, regional or local, requires the commitment and solidarity of the public and private sectors that must understand that these cultural encounters are the path to building more peaceful societies, open to debate, knowledge and healthy enjoyment. These fairs are important for the promotion of reading, they strengthen a chain as fragile as the book chain (authors, editors, publishers, illustrators, proofreaders, etc.) and contribute to its sustainability.
I therefore call on the governorates, mayors, compensation funds, other companies, public and private universities and potential allies, to join forces with the fair organizations and contribute with the knowledge and resources necessary to strengthen them and, thus, open more spaces for more audiences and cultural actors.
In a message that the writer Mario Mendoza sent me for the tenth anniversary of the Pereira Book Fair this year, which I have the honor of directing, he said the following: “Book fairs are hotbeds of civil resistance and there is no democracy.” participatory if there is no right to read and right to write.” That is. It couldn’t be more direct.
All the capital cities of the country, at least, should have a book fair that flows in its organization and that does not encounter so many obstacles, stinginess and small minds. It should be a social obligation to fight for the protection of those that exist and encourage the durability of those that come.
The world would be more beautiful if we understood it and recreated it from culture, don’t you think?
*Journalist-Director of the Pereira Book Fair
