The European Union (EU) is the Guest of Honour at the 37th Feria Internacional del Libro (International Book Fair) (FIL) of Guadalajara, to be held from 25 November to 3 December 2023. The EU will be in Guadalajara with the aim of creating new areas for collaboration and strengthening its relations with Mexico and the whole of the Latin American and Caribbean region (the ALC region). This gathering will build upon the EU’s great wealth of cultural and linguistic diversity, on which its history and its present are based, as well as intercultural dialogue with Mexico and Latin America.
As well as being the largest book fair in Latin America and one of the largest in the world, the Guadalajara FIL is an important cultural event that embraces all forms of artistic expression, cultural events and exchanges among civil society and academics. The FIL is a social and media event that attracts more than 800,000 visitors, has more than 15 million followers on its social media, and is covered by more than 2,000 media and press professionals and journalists.
The EU will participate in the Guadalajara FIL under the slogan ‘Building a Union of Cultures,’ which pays homage to the diversity of cultures, in the broadest sense, in the EU and the ALC, as well as their potential for uniting our different nations.
The EU’s literary programme, as Guest of Honour at the FIL, involves participation by more than 70 writers from the EU’s 27 countries and from Ukraine. These writers will reflect Europe’s cultural plurality and diversity of literary genres and styles. Among the authors present will be Dacia Maraini, who will open the literary salon, Tatiana Țibuleac, Lídia Jorge, José Luis Peixoto, Pascal Quignard, Nina Yargekov, María Dueñas, Andréi Kurkov, María Cecilia Barbetta, Tadgh Mac Dhonnagain, Colm Tóibín, Mária Ferenčuhová, Judit Berg and András Forgách. The activities of the EU’s literary programme at the FIL are designed to provide arenas for dialogue, both among European and Latin American authors and with the public attending the FIL. The EU’s programme also extends to the sections FIL Joven (Youth), FIL Niños (Children), FIL Ciencia (Science) and FIL Pensamiento (Thought). Within those arenas, the University of Guadalajara also invites speakers – intellectuals, academics, scientists, politicians, authors, civil society actors – from the Member States of the EU to take part in debates together with speakers from the ALC and other continents. The subjects and programme are drawn up by the University and will be announced in due course.
