The Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) continues to grow in size. The fair ran from November 28 to December 6 this year, and attracted more than 20,000 industry professionals and 767,200 consumers; the latter marked a 2% increase over 2013. The attendees hailed from 44 countries. The traditional centerpiece of the world’s largest Spanish-language book fair is the children’s area, which this year was visited by more than 160,000 children, and which housed more than 35 events by publishers from Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, India, Italy, and elsewhere.
FIL honors the work of authors and professionals who left their mark on the industry, presenting awards such as the Publishing Merit Award. This year it was given to France’s Anne Marie Métailié, founder of Métailié Publishing, which specializes in publishing Latin American literature in France. Métailié is credited for opening the doors for many Latin American writers in Europe. Another prestigious award presented by FIL is the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, in recognition of the literary work of women writing in Spanish. Created in 1993, the award this year went to Ana García Bergua, from Mexico, for her novel La bomba de San José (The Bomb of San José).
More than 120 U.S. librarians made it to FIL this year, a slightly higher number than in 2013. To help librarians discover a range of culturally diverse books for American audiences, distributors and publishers such as Lectorum, Bilingual Publications, and Fondo de Cultura Economica hosted a series of special events at the fair, as well as at the annual dinner.
Argentina was this year’s guest of honor and held a number of cultural events that took place throughout the city of Guadalajara. (Next year the U.K. is the guest of honor.) The last-minute visit of José Mujica, president of Uruguay, added spice to the final day of the fair, prompting Marisol Schulz, director of FIL, to observe, “The presence of José Mujica at FIL demonstrates the importance of this book fair on the world’s stage.”
Among the Canadian publishers that made the trip to Guadalajara was Howard Aster, publisher of Mosaic Press in Oakville, Ontario, which sold nine titles at the fair and received options for several more. “We do well, very well, there,” said Aster who has been attending FIL for 15 years. He noted that while Latin American publishers appear only somewhat interested in Canadian literary fiction, there is more interest in genre fiction such as fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, and children’s books. Aster also uses the fair to pick up titles from Latin America houses. In 2015 and 2016 Mosaic will publish a total of three books bought at FIL, including an anthology of Central American writers and an essay on Octavio Paz.
Consultant and rights agent Catherine Mitchell was at the fair, representing Toronto-based children’s publishers Pajama Press and Groundwood Books. “The fair buzz is really terrific, and this fair is really important as many of the Latin American houses do not attend Bologna—or London, in the case of adult publishing,” she said. A number of her YA novels received interest, and Mitchell anticipates multiple sales as a result in the coming months.
Meanwhile, two Montreal-based comics and children’s publishers—Simon de Jocas of Éditions les 400 coups, and Frédéric Gauthier of La Pastèque—both attended for the first time, as part of a fellowship program, and both reported making new contacts. De Jocas said that if his budget allows, he’d like to return next year. “I would rate this fair, in terms of children’s publishing opportunities for both buying and selling rights, in the top three—if not top two—with Bologna, of course, and Frankfurt,” he said. Gauthier said he will consider attending every two years and would like to continue exploring the Brazilian market.
