On June 18, the most anticipated publishing event in the Mantaro Valley, Peru, will be inaugurated: the HAPPY, the festival of culture that, nationally and internationally, has elevated Huancayo’s name to the top as a city of readers and entrepreneurs who value books and perceive them as an ally for their personal and social development. From June 18 to 30, Huancayo will host renowned writers, intellectuals, communicators and influencers, professionals and academics who will share their latest productions and give masterful conferences, also presenting their latest works. Likewise, the Unmatchable It will be the stage for musicians, dancers and singers to delight the public with their cultural manifestations – because this year’s fair is dedicated to music – and for actors and storytellers to transport them to the magical world of fantasy.
This year, in the fourteenth edition of FELIZH, all records will be broken: 13 days with 127 activities and more than 400 participants at the regional, national and international level. Due to the high demand for applications, uninterrupted activities will be carried out from 11 in the morning until 9:30 at night. This year there is greater participation from universities, as well as cultural and government institutions.
Once again FELIZH will dedicate numerous activities to the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa. This year the fair will have the Official Collaboration of the Mario Vargas Llosa Chair. Its director, the writer Raúl Tola Pedraglio, will travel from Madrid directly to Huancayo to inaugurate the book fair and lead the days dedicated to the Peruvian Nobel Prize. Throughout the fair, conferences and round tables will be held with renowned personalities, such as Alonso Cueto, Guillermo Niño de Guzmán, Giovanna Pollarolo, Abelardo Sánchez León, Enrique Ghersi, Fernando Carvallo, Laura Alzubide, Pedro Cateriano, Ricardo Sumalavia, Johan Page , Jorge Jaime Valdez, Miguel Ángel Villalobos and Kent Oré.
Besides. This year the commemorations for the Bicentennial of the Independence of Peru culminate and, as in the Lima International Book Fair, FELIZH will dedicate numerous activities to this anniversary organized by institutions that have requested to participate in the fair, such as: Regional Government of Junín, the Junín Cultural Board, the Continental University, the Municipality of Acolla and the Municipality of Huancaya (Yauyos) who will hold book presentations, conferences and round tables. The journalist and director of the Editorial Fund of the San Martín University, Juan de la Puente, will join these reflections with his talk Challenges of the third centenary of the republic. Likewise, Acollino historians Apolinario Mayta Inga and Miriam Canchari Rivera will present their book Bicentennial of the glorious Battle of Junín (1824-2024). Snot and drool from its history. To analyze this event from another perspective, the youtuber and influencer Merlín Chambi will maintain a dialogue with the former Minister of Culture, Jair Pérez Bráñez.
Tributes and recognitions of the FELIZH
This year an emotional Literary Tribute will be paid to the great poet and academic Abelardo Sánchez Leónauthor of works such as The desert dweller either The loneliness of the swimmer, who will especially visit Huancayo to receive this deference. The FELIZH Regional Tribute will be for the teacher and journalist Julio Vargas Cajahuancaand a Recognition will be given for his career and contribution to culture and sports to Hector Mayhuire. Likewise, the Huancaí writer Raquel Prialé, born in 1927, will receive recognition for her extensive creative work. The posthumous tributes will be for the great journalist and writer Eloy Jaureguiwho participated so many times in the fair, and the poet Julia Wong Kcomt, recently declared a Meritorious Personality of Peru by the Ministry of Culture. Finally, recognition will be given to the newspaper Trade for their work promoting reading through their collectibles.
International presence
Continuing with the internationalization of FELIZH, this year it will have foreign personalities who will grace the event. A cycle will be dedicated to Colombiawhich includes two commemorations: the Centennial of the poet’s birth Maruja Vieira and the Centenary of the publication of The Maelstrom by José Eustasio Rivera.
Chili is the other major participant, with the presence, virtually, of one of the great disseminators of Latin American liberal thought: Axel Kaiserwho will present his book The street economist. 15 economics lessons to survive politicians and demagogues, which will feature the comments of Dimas Aliaga. Likewise, the talk will be held Why and how to read One hundred years of lonelinessdictated by booktuber and reading promoter Sebastián Osmán Gómez, who will especially travel from Santiago de Chile to Huancayo to carry out the activity.
Likewise, the books of two foreigners whose works emerged from the passionate experience of living in Peru will be presented. These are: Cereté’s notebook, by the Colombian Jaidith Soto, whose poetic motivation is attributed to the readings she did of José Watanabe, Antonio Cisneros and Blanca Varela; and the book The gringa of the Andes, by the French Genevive Hocquard, emerged from her four-year stay in Acopalca, near the snowy Huaytapallana, and which, according to the author confesses, was a life lesson and made her discover the path of her heart. Both authors will be present at FELIZH.
As is customary, Japanese and Chinese culture will be present at FELIZH with various activities, such as the round table and posthumous tribute to the poet Tusán Julia wong kcomt, who received the posthumous distinction of Meritorious Personality of Culture from the Ministry of Culture. Also the Nikkei artist Ricardo Villanueva Ymafuku who, together with the poet Doris Moromisatowill hold a round table about the artist Makino Toribetter known as ‘El samurai del huayno’, closing the activity with the melodies that Tori used to perform.
Reading Promotion Day
Fulfilling the objective of being a strategic space to promote the habit of reading, the XIV FELIZH will organize the Reading Promotion Day to exchange promotion experiences in the Mantaro Valley, current trends in Latin America, as well as the urgent issue of the reactivation of school and public libraries, and the innovative strategies to promote creativity and reading. Within this Conference, the Ministry of Culture of Peru will give two CONECTA talks on the publishing of general books and youth and children’s books.
This year the fair’s slogan is A waltz of books for Huancayo, with which it announces the great cultural and artistic festival that the city will experience due to the large number of shows and musical events that will be part of the extensive program that has been prepared for the delight of the visiting public. The fair will be accompanied by traditional Junín rhythms, such as huaynos, huaylarsh, tunantadas, chonguinadas, santiagos, thanks to the participation of the artistic cast of the Continental University and the artistic groups coordinated by the Ministry of Culture and its subsidiary, the Decentralized Directorate of Junín Culture. You can also enjoy musical fusions with Carlos Arias Zúñiga, a musician recognized by MINCUL, who will open the fair with his album Valley Sonata. Of course, special attention will be devoted to Creole music and especially the Peruvian waltz that has many fans in the city of Huancayo.
Precisely, this year the Regional Tribute is dedicated to the professor and journalist Julio Vargas, member of the musical group Los Aires del Perú, whose waltz mountain paradise It is almost a Huancayo anthem. Maestro Vargas will accompany his chords in different activities at the fair. With the same emotion, FELIZH will receive the renowned guitarist Ricardo Villanueva Ymafuku, who will appear in the auditorium to perform his musical songs.
