In the early 1960s forward-looking government officials
acquired a large piece of real estate south west of what was then the heart of
the capital. This property,
recognized by its iconic metal arch and built to host commercial expositions
of all sizes, became corferias Bogotá, a public/private partnership that has
endured for half a century. The
book fair, filbo, has grown steadily
over its quarter century and now fills all six of corferias’ pavilions, providing over 1,600 separate venues for
publishers and book sellers to show their wares. While Colombian editorial houses predominate the event,
publishers from other Latin American countries send representatives as well.
Each year the fair bestows the title of guest of honor to a country in
the Luso-Hispanic world. In 2014
Peru received the designation and gave a very good account of itself. The Peruvian pavilion featured a
display of photographic images taken by a well-known anthropologist, a carefully-chosen
display of ceramic and textile handicrafts, and an inner room of books produced
by a variety of scholarly and popular publishers. How the books were chosen was something of a mystery—visitors
received no explanation—but they seemed to sell briskly.
For the past five years corferias
has provided subventions to professions that offset their airfare to visit Bogota
during filbo. Librarians from most major Latin
American Collections in the United States, South America and Mexico have
received these grants, some as recidivists. This year corferias
also sponsored a breakfast that mixed publishers and librarians over coffee and
eggs as a way of kicking things off.
The local press often laments that despite having produced a number of
distinguished writers, Colombia is not a nation of readers. I wonder, given the global onslaught of
digital media, if Colombian journalists doth protest too much, or if not too
much, too soon. Librarians,
booksellers and authors across the planet fret that reading has become a
diversion exclusive to the senior set.
A week before the fair opened, Colombia’s most famous writer, Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, died in Mexico City.
The sure-footed organizers reacted quickly and filled the venue with
tributes to “Gabo,” including a monumental screen print of the novelist fronted
by a bouquet of yellow roses. Several
books, including a recent translation of Gerald Martin’s biography, were on
display. I suspect that many
others will appear before the year is out, chronicles of a death foretold.
Peru’s Nobel laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa came to the fair as part of
the Peruvian delegation. He and
Garcia Marquez famously have not spoken for years. So it is an irony worthy of a novel that the two would share
center state in Bogota. Vargas
Llosa presented the keynote address, and tickets were as scarce as hen’s teeth.
I did not get one, and I have not seen the speech in print. But I cannot help wondering how Gabo fared.
