The Buenos Aires Book Fair It is many things. It can be a fishbowl to get lost in an evasive reading, but also, and above all, it is an echo of the situation. “A sounding board”, he defined Alejandro Katz. A mega cultural event, a large commerce, a space for debate, a place for political pronouncement, a plot of land for recreation. The Book Fair is all that and more, but who controls its helm? What kind of organizations make it up? What is the El Libro Foundation? Does it represent the publishing industry in a more or less faithful way? as a whole?
The The Book Foundation organizes the Fair. Since 1975 it operated as a de facto company, but in 1984 it acquired the form it has today: a civil association whose Council, in the words of Alejandro Vaccaroits president, “represents the entire chain that makes up the book industry”: the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE), the Argentine Book Chamber (CAL), the Argentine Chamber of Publications (CAP), the Book Sector, Magazines and Media of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce (CECRA), the Argentine Federation of the Graphic and Related Industries (FAIGA) and the Argentine Federation of Bookstores, Stationery Stores and Related Activities (FALPA).
SADE, of which Vaccaro is also its president, is the oldest institution – it was founded in 1928 – and represents writers. The publishers are represented by two chambers: the CAL, today chaired by Juan Manuel Pampínwhich brings together small and medium-sized companies, and the CAP, which commands Gustavo Galarraga and that contains the biggest groups and the biggest labels. Between these two organizations there is the greatest tension on the Board of the El Libro Foundation since they respond to interests that often conflict, however they all affirm that they work well together.
The El Libro Foundation is in charge, in addition to the Fair, of the Professional Conferences, the Children’s and Youth Book Fair and several other activities. Below Vaccaro is Jorge Devito of FAIGA as vice, the secretary is Eugenia Zicavo of FALPA, the treasurer is Joaquin Gil Paricio of CECRA, the deputy secretary is Isaac Ariel Granica of the CAP and the treasurer is Alejo Avila of the CAL. The regular directors complete: Mariano Gabriel Arzadun (FALPA), Veronica Chwat (CHAP), Gustavo Galarraga (CECRA), Ricardo Menoyo (FAIGA), Aurelius Narvaja (LIME), Gabriela Perez (LIME), Guillermo Pilia (SADE) and Gabriel Waldhuter (LIME).
“Votes are by simple majority. There are fourteen of us, whoever has eight votes wins, and if there is a tie of seven, the president has a double vote only in that case,” says Vaccaro. The authorities are renewed every two years. Every other Tuesday, the Council meets. According to the editors consulted by Infobae Culture, the Fair reflects very well the entire sector. If the Argentine Chamber of Independent Bookstores (CALI) is not yet part of it, it is because it is less than a year old. In that sense, looking at the Book Fair is looking at the publishing industry. The operation may be different but the batching is very similar.
The prehistory of Buenos Aires Book Fair It has another name: First National Book Exhibition. It was held between September 21 and 30, 1928 at the Cervantes Theater and had the support of the State commanded by the then president Marcelo T. de Alvear. An executive meeting was organized with Enrique Larreta as president and Carlos M. Noel as a vice that was made official through a decree. Specialized commissions were created in which they participated Paul Groussac, Leopoldo Lugones, Ricardo Rojas, Baldomero Fernández Moreno, Horacio Quiroga, Alejandro Korn, Bernardo Houssay and Alejandro Bungeamong others.
The second milestone in its prehistory is the First Argentine Book Fair of 1943, outdoors and on 9 de Julio Avenue: it extended from April 1 to May 4 and brought together more than 800 thousand visitors, he says. Laura Diaz in From the author to the reader: a tour of the Buenos Aires Book Fair through forty years of history. The organization was in charge of the Argentine Book Chamber, founded just five years ago, in 1938.
In that First Fair there was a debate that is somewhat current: “The request for state support generated controversies within the Chamber, especially with editors who considered that requesting support from the State meant compromising their political independence. In fact, some of the most important publishers, such as Estrada and Claridad, decided not to participate. However, it was the strong support and state presence that made the exhibition a success, both for its economic contribution and for the transfer of the space and the participation of public entities with their own presence,” he says. Laura Diaz.
The first official fair was in 1975 at the Exhibition Center of the City of Buenos Aires, next to the Faculty of Law of the UBA. It was in 1993, once democracy was established, that it happened in La Rural. But it was the product of another drama: privatizations. “The Municipal Exhibition Center was at that time with the possibility of being privatized and there was no certainty about whether the property could be used during 1993, so, given the lack of response from the authorities, other possibilities began to be considered, such as La Rural and the Puerto Madero Corporation,” says Díaz. Finally, La Rural was chosen.
“We do not pursue profit, we are not interested in making money, but to make the best possible fair,” says Vaccaro, adding that “our postulates are essentially to spread books and reading, so we do not pursue profit goals nor do any of our advisors receive any fee of any kind, not even recognition of travel expenses. I mean, it’s totally a job. ad honorem”. Those who do have a salary are the officials of the Book Fair itself, as is the case of Ezequiel MartínezGeneral Director of the Fair since 2021.
“We are a private entity. We do not receive money from any official national, municipal or provincial institution of any nature,” says Vaccaro and explains: “In the month of September we put the Fair lots on sale and with that we finance. And then, of course, with the sale of tickets during the Fair. “Those are the two major areas that support it.”. “Then there are other incomes that are sponsors: they can be private or public. For example, in previous years Banco Nación supported the Fair and this year it decided not to do so,” he adds.
Regarding the partisan, political and ideological speculations that the Fair and the FOUNDATION may have, Vaccaro states without hesitation: “We have no political commitment to anyone, that is why we can say what we say and do what we do, that is why we are plural.. In our Fair there are all voices: from the right, from the left, from the center, from all religions, from all countries, from the provinces. Here they are all; there is bibliodiversity.” And regarding the monetary references, he states: “For us the Fair is not a shopping mall to sell books; “The Fair is a great cultural activity”.
However, it does not escape the commercial dimension of the book, the industry and the Fair itself “1,500 cultural events are held throughout the 19 days in which it is open to the public. Exhibitors who buy a stand do so for profit: they have to sell books. The bookseller displays what he believes can be sold. You can write the most beautiful book in the world, but if they think it’s no business, they won’t even show it to you. We live in a capitalist society where anyone who sets up a business does so to earn money, not to do charity work. “A bookstore is a business, a publishing house is a business.”
A book fair is not the same as a tomato fair, said Silvia Plager. Of course not. Books are artifacts that house ideas, stories, knowledge. They are also products on the shelf. The only limit, says Vaccaro, “is not set by us, it is set by justice: everything that is a crime is not in the Fair. For example: claiming state terrorism is an apology for crime. If you go out to publicly claim kidnappings and torture, you are committing a crime and the Fair is not going to give you a room. It’s as if you told me: ‘I want to kill a guy tomorrow at three in the afternoon in the Victoria Ocampo Room.’ “We cannot allow it.”
