Since its opening, last Wednesday, May 29, until this Sunday, June 2, around 20 thousand people have visited the 25th Santa Cruz de la Sierra International Book Fair. However, 4 thousand students from 50 schools have entered for free.
“We are happy and excited by the response we are receiving from people, and especially from children and young people; The figures demonstrate the interest of Santa Cruz residents in reading,” said Ruth Hohenstein, president of the Santa Cruz Departmental Book Chamber, the organizing institution of the event.
More than a hundred bookstores, book distributors and publishers exhibit their products in three of the five pavilions set up at Fexpocruz. Visitors can find titles from all literary genres, in various specialties and even in other languages.
In terms of prices, the offer is varied. You can find story books from Bs 1 (Editorial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, Brazil pavilion) to publications worth more than Bs 3,000, generally volumes and history collections in luxury presentations.
The exhibition will continue until Sunday the 9th with multiple activities: book presentations, discussions, workshops and the XI International Poetry Meeting “City of the Rings”, with the participation of 57 authors.
Like every year, the Children’s Pavilion attracts the attention of the youngest visitors. For this version, a circuit was devised with the theatrical representation of Colombian and national literary works, each with its own pedagogical manual activity. The space opens at 3:00 p.m. and closes at 9:00 p.m.
In the Theater the performances are also very interesting. Every day plays are presented with representations of legends, stories, dances and even puppets. Also this week there will be musical shows: Doctors of Joy (UPDS), Pop Icons (Utepsa Choir and Youth Cantoría) and Tuna Universitaria (Uagrmy Utepsa)).
The competitions are present in the sample. Last week there was an intercollegiate declamation session. A short theater festival is scheduled for today and tomorrow and a reading festival will be held on Wednesday. On Sunday, the Benjamín Cultural Center for the Promotion of Books, Reading and Letters will announce the winner of its short story contest.
The attractions are many. In addition to the sculptures of the jichi, the capybara, an old plane, houses and forest in the Children’s Pavilion, in the Brazil pavilion, visitors take photos next to a huge perico (sloth) reader sitting under a flowering toborochi. On the other hand, on the main avenue of the Fair there are living statues.
The cost to enter the Fair is Bs 25; Children under 12 years of age do so for free, as do schoolchildren who schedule their visit. Opening hours are from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., except on Fridays and Saturdays when the closure is extended by one hour.
