Spain and Colombia talk about peace with books at the Bogotá Book Fair

The gigantic cover letter is impressive, and at the same time a declaration of intent. At the entrance to the Spanish pavilion at the 37th Bogotá International Book Fair (FilBo), we read, on 20 meters of macramé netting woven by local artisans: Spain, a culture for peace , also written in Catalan, Basque, Galician, Aranese, and Asturian. The idea it conveys is clear: we are a country that, like Colombia, is plurinational and has suffered violence. Let's talk about how it has been represented in literature, comics, the arts, and film; and how, through dialogue, peace can be built. One of the three most important book fairs in Latin America—along with Guadalajara, Mexico, and Buenos Aires, Argentina—is a privileged space to undertake such reflection, to vigorously attempt rapprochement.

“With the motto A Culture for Peace , with Others and with the Planet, we wanted to address the challenges that both countries share and that are also global, using books as an forum for public debate,” says professor and writer Antonio Monegal, curator of Spain's participation in the event. The winner of the 2023 National Essay Award for Like the Air We Breathe. The Sense of Culture (Acantilado), adds: “The architecture of the pavilion is a physical demonstration of this desire for conversation, based on the idea of ​​weaving together territories and inspired by the tradition of mobile public libraries in Spain and Colombia.”

“In Bogotá, people are cultured and elegant, like in old Vienna, but within the chaos of Latin America.”

Journalist Melba Escobar—born in Cali, a Bogotá native at heart, and based in Madrid—was part of the Spanish delegation, along with other Colombians such as writer Juan Gabriel Vásquez and bookseller Antonio Ramírez. There are nearly 140 people invited by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Cultural Action, and 23 of them are of Colombian origin. She also uses the metaphor of weaving to talk about this experience: “As a Colombian with a Spanish mother, and family in Catalonia, I have spent my life trying to weave connections between the two countries, through language and the realities they share.” That's why she was pleased to suddenly see dozens of “Spanish authors walking through Bogotá, amazed by a city at 2,600 meters above sea level” and where, as one Madrid author told her, “the people are cultured and elegant like in old Vienna, but within the frenetic chaos of Latin America.”

FilBo opened last Friday, April 25th, with remarks from Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun and writers Javier Cercas and Piedad Bonnett; and concludes on Sunday, May 11th. More than two weeks of exhibitions (comics, photography, and visual arts), panel discussions, tributes (Jorge Semprún, Almudena Grandes, Carmen Balcells, and more), performances, and book sales in the Spanish pavilion. And there were book presentations, signings, culinary tastings, immersive experiences, storytelling, all kinds of book sales, and massive attendance in the 60,000 square meters of Corferias.

The estimated audience is over 600,000; there are nearly 500 invited writers; and the program includes more than 2,300 activities. Not only at the fairgrounds, but FilBo Ciudad coordinates activities in Bogotá's bookstores and cultural spaces, and FilBo Region flies authors from the capital to showcase their work in other major cities (Medellín, Cali) and iconic cities across the country (Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Pereira, and Manizales).

Opposite the Spanish pavilion, the Penguin Random House pavilion is dedicating the same promotional space to Mario Vargas Llosa that was held last year by Gabriel García Márquez's unpublished novel, In August We See You . It's surprising, however, that El Eternauta , the graphic novel by Francisco Solano López and Héctor Germán Oesterheld, which has just been adapted by Netflix, doesn't receive the recognition it deserves. Although Planeta also commands a lot of square footage, as at all the major Latin American fairs, the most interesting part is in the independent publishing house area. Hardly any Spanish authors have been published by them. There's still a lot of bilateral work to be done. But this FilBo could be a potential turning point.

As Melba Escobar says: "I feel that, after this event, we will be closer than before." The legacy will not be merely intangible. The elements that make up the Spanish pavilion (whose project was named Textum/Süchi. Weaving Territories ) will remain here. All the furniture from the traveling libraries will be distributed by the Colombian Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Knowledge to bookish enclaves across the country; the felt and wool will be recycled by students at the Boyacá Workshop School; and the University of Los Andes will use the architectural elements that delimit the different spaces of the 3,000 square meters of the facility for its University Classroom project, being developed in Bogotá's La Modelo prison.