Over 700 authors participated in this year’s Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL-Feria Internacional del Libro), considered the second largest book fair in the world following the world’s oldest literary gathering, the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Honored authors were Paul Auster of the U.S. (nominated for this year’s Booker Prize), and French born social justice journalist and author Elena Poniatowska of Mexico, now 88 years old but looking 50-60 years young.
French author and filmmaker Emmanuel Carrere received this year’s Premio FIL de Literature en Lenguas Romances (Literary Prize for Romance Languages), Latin America’s most important literary prize worth $150,000 USD.
Chilean author and actress Nona Fernandez won the Premio de Literatura Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz for her novel set during the Pinochet dictatorship which, according to the jury, expressed “emotions of an entire nation with respect to a dark and shameful past.”
I attended the FIL to view non-fiction Body/Mind/Spirit and wellness books, the area I devote myself to as a book shepherd. Again this year I represented Spanish language book rights for authors and met with various publishing houses.
Here below is a quick view of some stands and titles I saw for my work…
Dr. Paul Kalanthi’s poetic and memorable When Breath Becomes Air got a bashing when its Spanish title became The Good Doctor with a cover that doesn’t seem to match its sensitive and meaningful content. Both title and cover are examples of cultural differences showing how much I have yet to learn. ?#@!!! See the Spanish version below which was well featured during the FIL.
I was pleased to see Zen Hospice founder Frank Osteseski’s The Five Invitations, a healing Buddhist approach to death and dying published by Oceano.
The fair took place Saturday, November 25 thru December 3. The nine days will included more than 750,000 visitors (several days are open to the public at minimal cost), 1,900 publishing houses from 41 countries, and 700+ hours of cultural programming. This year’s honored guest was the City of Madrid with exhibits and activities sharing its art, cinema, literature, music.
See http://www.fil.com,mx or https://www.fil.com.mx/ingles/i_info/i_info_fil.asp The FIL is held at the Guadalajara Expo.
Book Ambassador 