FILBo: The story behind 35 years bringing Colombians closer to books
The doors of the International Book Fair opened on April 18. The 35th version of this event, celebrates its premiere with the invitation to Mexico as a country honored in the midst of books, talks and authors. In addition, the flavor and quality of Cali literature will have a special place on this occasion, premiering the category of guest city.
2,000 activities and 500 exhibitors will be fluctuating to the rhythm of the pages and passion for these objects that concentrate the knowledge of the world in this 2023. The chain of creation and production of the book, of reading, the cultural and the commercial will take the country to enter into the magic of this world However, many wonder about its origin. From KienyKe.com we tell you how this important event was born.
It may interest you: Cali, the city invited to FILBo 2023
What was the origin of the Bogota Book Fair?
Since 1988, the Colombian Book Chamber and Corferias have held the Bogotá International Book Fair, an alliance that has allowed it to position the event as one of the most important in the Spanish-speaking world. Gathering for 35 years all the actors in the book chain (authors, editors, proofreaders, translators, distributors, agents and booksellers) who together with their readers make up this book ecosystem that grows and strengthens every year.
Under version 30, its founders, Óscar Pérez Gutiérrez, manager of Corferias and Jorge Valencia, president of the Colombian Book Chamber in 1988 They remembered the foundation of this event around Hispanic letters.
“We, like Corferias, wanted to have a large fair and to make it possible we knew that it was essential to learn about experiences from other countries and the support of an expert entity in the country’s publishing industry, so we went to the Colombian Book Chamber ”recalls his 88 years Pérez Gutiérrez in an article written by Rivera Díaz in the Barrios de Bogotá portal.
Initially, such a fair was held in Santander Park in a modest way, however, after joining with the Book Chamber, the first version was made official on April 29, 1988 in Bogotá. After this, its scope and logistics were strengthened.
When this important step of removing the fair from the park and taking it to Corferias was taken, it was done for the well-being of the books, since they were at the mercy of the sun and water. In order to solve it, Pérez and Valencia traveled to the Buenos Aires Book Fair, where they collected logistics ideas, which were later included in the Bogotá Fair.
The FILBo 35 years later
The web page of the event has consigned the summary of these years of travel after the foundation of Pérez and Valencia: “35 years of the most important cultural event in Colombia have allowed the formation of readers in our country, the revitalization of the publishing market (printing, rights, internationalization of our authors) and have left an indelible mark as one of the most important fairs in America. Latin”.
And so, each year the number of attendees is large. Only in 2022 there were 515,000. What encourages the good acceptance for this 2023. In this edition, the main theme is the Roots, a word understood as the cause leads to celebrate this event through the three roots of culture –indigenous, Spanish and African–; as a support to have urgent conversations from sustainability, the environment, gender and peace; and as a foundation, to talk about the roots and uprooting of people who migrate.