The 2025 Editors' Fair is coming, and this year it won't have one official poster, but two!

Every year, a visual artist showcases their talent on the official poster for the Editors' Fair (FED) , the independent book industry 's showcase, which has become a must-attend event for those who know how to choose what they like to read, know where to look for it, and are guided by the publishers. However, the 2025 edition of the show will be an exception, as it will not have one official image, but two, after Celeste Barta and Powerpaola shared the award , which the editors call for together with La Fuerza Vermú.

“After examining more than 300 excellent poster proposals , we arrived at a final selection of two graphic works . Both so wonderful and different at the same time that it was impossible for us to choose just one,” explained the jury, composed of Oqui Paratz (winner of the 2024 edition), María Luque (illustrator and writer), and Martín Ramón (director of Espacio Moebius, a publishing house and gallery specializing in comics and illustration).

The jury members added that both Celeste Barta's and Powerpaola's proposals " reflect the spirit of the FED using distinct techniques and graphic resources." Thus, both will share the 600,000-peso prize and gifts from the publishers and La Fuerza Vermú.

Celeste Barta is an illustrator. Her work creates colorful universes with unique characters. Using intense shapes and defined lines, she constructs a transformed everyday life. She illustrates for media outlets, brands, startups, and design and advertising studios.

This will be Barta's first year at the FED , and she tells Clarín that she's excited. "I came across the call for applications on Instagram, and apparently, my mind was ruminating on the idea of ​​participating. One day, I woke up and, without much hesitation, sat down to work on a poster," she tells Clarín in her studio, a spacious and bright space that allows the trees and clear sky to peek through.

The illustrator works on a table that belonged to her grandfather. In these continuities , she also maintains a clear fidelity to the paper : "It gives me a general intention, and based on that, I sit down to brainstorm ideas and quickly sketch them out. It feels like writing a sentence, something you don't want to forget, something you don't want to 'get away from you.' From those ideas, I choose one, the one I think works best . I work on that idea/sketch again and again. Finally, comes the digital aspect. In the digital aspect, I unfold all my obsessions and apply color," she describes.

You might think that a person who dedicates himself to the visual arts would not be so connected to letters, but that is not the case for Celeste Barta: " Books have always occupied a huge place in my life. In my childhood in the late 90s and early 2000s, reading was super common. I always read a lot. I also always liked comics: Mafalda and Quino in general. Maitena, when I was older, I also remember Sin City, Mort Cinder by Breccia, and Wonder Woman . Books have always been great company on a personal level and great references on a professional level, doors to fantasy and parallel worlds," she shares while she is surrounded by her computer, printed sheets of a personal project she is working on, her iPad, jars with pencils, fountain pens, pens and acrylics.

Powerpaola, the alias of Colombian Paula Gaviria , She is a visual artist, cartoonist, and illustrator who explores drawing, storytelling, everyday life, and the interpretation of texts. She addresses themes related to sexuality, feminism, family relationships, and the search for personal identity.

It's the end of the day, and the artist is surrounded by people on one of the buses on line 71 when Clarín contacts her. While the rest of the group texts, plays games, watches videos, and listens to audiobooks, she answers the newspaper's questions. " The FED is the fair I look forward to most of the year. I love meeting friends, writers, and editors. Plus, it's usually where I buy the most books," she shares.

It was because of this connection with the fair that she entered the contest again: "I was really excited to make the poster. I wanted to show exactly that: the encounter with others, the conversations that take place there. I wanted to show the collective nature of the publishing industry. I have wonderful, unforgettable memories of those encounters. Sitting down with people I hadn't seen in a long time and talking about the books we bought, listening to recommendations, and sharing with others," she says.

For Powerpaola, books are her companion. "I don't just draw and paint, I also write, so to nourish my imagination and my worldview, I try to read a lot and stay up to date with the latest news, as I write a monthly comic about books for the newspaper El Tiempo (Colombia)."

Before getting off the bus, the artist opens the doors to the composition process of her poster: "I thought of the proposal from my own experience in that place. I sent two proposals , one done digitally where you could see all the characters that one finds there and another, which was the one that remained, in oil, where you see the reader as the protagonist, but behind it, the entire encounter between booksellers, editors, readers ."

"The award went wonderfully, and we have two incredible posters ; we can't wait to see them printed five meters high, adorning the fair," says publisher and distributor Victor Malumian , co-founder of Ediciones Godot, the distributor Carbono, and the driving force behind the FED in 2013.

If the first Editors' Fair was held in 2013, on FM La Tribu and with the participation of 15 small publishers, year after year, the event grew in number of participants and audience .

In 2024, 24,600 readers visited the fair , and in this 2025 edition, more than 300 independent publishers from Latin America will be present between August 7 and 10 at the C Complejo Art Media (Av. Corrientes 6271).

"This year, we're very excited about the work being done in the publishing world, including the consolidation of Carthago, the space that brings together publishers, audiovisual producers, and video game creators for the purchase and sale of rights," Malumian announced.

And he announces one of the new features of this edition: "A unique piece of news in Latin America: the Rumbo a Guadalajara award , which we are organizing together with Thomson Reuters and the Guadalajara International Book Fair, will give an editor the opportunity to travel to that fair, all expenses paid . A fundamental step in the internationalization of a catalog."