Buenos Aires Book Fair opens today with several authors talking about Lisbon | Books

The Buenos Aires International Book Fair, which has Lisbon as its guest of honor, opens this Thursday with a table that brings together two illustrators, two poets, a novelist and two comic book authors, to talk about this city.

André Letria, Sara Feio, Frederico Pedreira, Rosa Oliveira, Júlia Barata and Filipe Abranches have in common the city of Lisbon, where they were born, studied or live, a city that appeals to creativity and about which the authors will explain how it influences their creative work and what it represents for each of them.

Even before the opening table, a Support Line for Translation of Portuguese-Speaking Authors will be launched, which targets not only works by Portuguese authors, as well as Portuguese-speaking African and Timorese authors. The presentation of this line will be in charge of the Camões Institute and the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries (DGLAB).

This Thursday several exhibitions will also open, which will be on display until the end of the fair, on May 12th: Casa Fernando Pessoa will be installed in the venue and will have a parallel program of reading fragments of The Book of Disquiet; an international illustration exhibition that brings together illustrators selected by the Guimarães Illustration Biennial with those from an Argentine design association; and an exhibition of 10 paintings, by André Letria and Sara Feio, which illustrate what Lisbon represents and what unites it with Buenos Aires.

Portuguese comic book author Júlia Barata, residing in Buenos Aires, will lead a drawing workshop based on Alexandre O’Neill, which will include readings of poems – in Portuguese and Spanish – and exchanges of ideas about the author and his work.

Over these 18 days – the 23rd and 24th are dedicated to professional days -, thirty-six Portuguese authors will pass through the fair, in a program with around 100 activities, centered on books, but also on cinema and music.

In what is one of the largest book fairs in the world and which has the particularity of inviting cities and not countries, as is usual, Lisbon will have a space of 200 square meters, a small auditorium, reading spaces, audio and books from various Portuguese authors, not just those who will be present.

The Buenos Aires Book Fair is organized by the Fundação el Libro – an entity dedicated to promoting books and reading since 1974 – and Lisbon’s participation is being coordinated by the Lisbon municipality.