2024-08-05 03:01:00
The construction of a community is the identity password of one of the most relevant phenomena of the last decade. Publishers Fair (FED) –which will begin this Thursday and will run until next Sunday, with free admission to the C Chacarita Art Media Complexwhere they will meet More than 330 independent exhibiting stamps from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Spain— supports Law 25.542 for the Defense of Book Trade, also known as the single price law. “It is not an Argentine invention, its benefits are proven throughout the world, as is the case in the main publishing markets: Germany, France and Spain. The law does not prevent anyone from working or making offers, but it does establish the rules so that competition takes place within a framework of equality where all the actors in the book chain can prosper and exist,” he clarified. Victor Malumianone of the organizers, editorial director of Ediciones Godot, during the presentation of the program, which will include international visits from the Canadian Marie-Pier Lafontaine, the Norwegian Thomas Reinertsen Berg, the French-Senegalese Seynabou Sonko, the American Deborah Eisenberg and the Spanish Luna Miguel.
Deregulate the oligopoly of the paper industry
The Editors’ Fair expressed its support for Law 25,542 after the concern generated by the Minister of Deregulation and Transformation of the State, Federico Sturzenegger, who said in an interview with the newspaper The nation The minister said that the repeal of this fundamental rule for the publishing industry, enacted in 2002, would be an issue to be addressed by the Executive Branch. For Sturzenegger, the purpose is to “benefit users” – a curious way of referring to readers – with a hypothetical reduction in the price of books. “The prohibition that books cannot be cheaper seems to us to be something incredibly cruel and anti-cultural,” questioned the minister, perhaps unaware that this law was widely debated and agreed upon by the various actors in the sector. “In the United States, the emergence of Amazon meant that books are sold 40% less today than ten years ago. You can’t think of anything more anti-cultural than not allowing books to reach people cheaply,” he insisted. The Law for the Defense of Bookstore Activity establishes that book publishers and importers must set a uniform retail price throughout the country to protect everything from small neighborhood bookstores to large chains. “The Fed supported the law, which they want to discredit with biased data,” Malumián responded to Sturzenegger. “If they want to deregulate, they can do it with the oligopoly of the paper industry,” the editor suggested.
““Decent sales”
The community of editors, booksellers, writers, and readers who make up and support the FED year after year do not live with their backs turned to an increasingly complex socioeconomic context. Entering the eighth month of the FED government, Javier Miley Many publishers say that this is “one of the worst recessions” they can remember. “There is an economic context that we cannot escape,” Malumián acknowledged about the expectations for this edition. The numbers from the Argentine Book Chamber (CAL) are setting off alarm bells with a drop in production of more than 25% and a decrease in sales in bookstores that ranges between 20 and 40%. “There will inevitably be fewer sales than last year,” Malumián said, but he also noted that the intense FED community, which he defined as “very special,” is waiting for the fair to be able to make their purchases and he estimated that all exhibitors will have “decent sales.” Unlike the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, which lasts 19 days and requires an entrance fee, the FED is free of charge for all four days. Another important detail is that the average price of the books that will be displayed by the more than 330 publishers that will exhibit their proposals is around 19,000 pesos, more than 10 thousand pesos below the price of books from the major publishing groups, which are closer to or even exceed 30,000 pesos.
A pilgrimage to Chacarita
During the four days of the fair, during peak hours, the waiting time to enter the C Complejo Art Media will not exceed 10 minutes. In case of delay, the FED invites visitors with coffee (from Manifiesto Café) and magicians performing close-up magic. Each visitor will receive a book, produced with the support of the Cultural Center of Spain in Buenos Aires (CCEBA), which on this occasion will deal with violence, with texts by María Sonia Cristoff, Diego Golombek, Betina González, Juan Mattio, Elena Medel, Luna Miguel, Diego Muzzio, Ricardo Romero and Andrea Toribio. The volume is illustrated by the team of the FADU-UBA Graduate Professional Illustration Program, co-directed by Florencia Capella, Martín Laksman and Laura Varsky.
Once visitors are able to enter, they will find the best titles in narrative (novels and short stories), essays, poetry, music and cinema, social sciences and humanities, journalism, illustrated books, picture books and graphic novels, among other genres and themes from Argentine publishers such as Sigilo, Ampersand, Ediciones Godot, Caja Negra, Entropía (which will celebrate its twentieth anniversary), Eterna Cadencia, Sudestada, Adriana Hidalgo, Mardulce, Bajo la luna, Gourmet Musical, Corregidor, Limonero, Excursiones, Blatt & Rios, Beatriz Viterbo, Pequeño Editor, Marea, Siglo XXI, Asunto impresa, Gog & Magog, El cuenca de plata, El hilos de Ariadna, Caleta Olivia, ninguna orilla, Alto pogo, Editorial Biblos, Eloísa Cartonera, Caballo Negro, Cactus, Chai, 17 grises, Calibroscopio and Documenta/Escénicas, among others. Participating from abroad will be Phosphorus and Lot 42 (Brazil); Cuneta, Banda propia, Eleuterio and La Pollera (Chile); Abisinia, Mirabilia and Caballito de acero (Colombia); Antelope, Gris Tormenta, Grano de Sal, Elefanta and Almadía (Mexico); Arandurá (Paraguay); The Fall (Ecuador); Creature, Hum and Estuary (Uruguay); Acirema (Venezuela); Barret and Página Indómita (Spain).
On Thursday 8th and Friday 9th, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the FED will open its doors exclusively for bookstores and libraries, which will be able to access a 50% discount on participating stands (according to the organizers 90%), led by the Allied Libraries ProgramA new feature of this edition is that the terrace of the C Complejo Art Media will be open on Saturday and Sunday with activities in an open-air space to sit, have a drink and chat about past and future readings.
As soon as the FED opens, the first activity will be the announcement of the Book Fair Award among the five finalist bookstores: La Sede, located in Bariloche; Libro de Oro, from Tucumán; Los Confines, from Villa Ballester, province of Buenos Aires; Céspedes y Magia y Mandolina, from the City of Buenos Aires. The award consists of 1,000,000 million pesos to buy books at the fair, with a 50% discount at participating stands.
Write the urgency
Among the highlights of the cultural programming on Thursday at 5 pm there will be a conversation about “Writing the urgency. The place of art in a collapsing world”con Sandra Santana, Madeleine Wolff and moderation by Santiago CraigThe closing of the first day, at 7:30 p.m., will be on the theme “On the decision to write,” a talk on the conflicts and factors that lead writers to begin a writing project, with Nurit Kasztelan and Luis Gusmán, accompanied by editor Leonora Djament as moderators.
On Friday at 2 pm it will start with “One story, two languages”, an exchange on the creative processes between the writer Alejandra Kamiya and illustrator Yael Frankel, who have just published together the beautiful illustrated book Of an ancient grey by Lemon Tree. The talk will be moderated by journalist Karina Micheletto. At 7:30 p.m., the Entropía publishing house will celebrate its twentieth anniversary with several of the authors from the catalogue: Romina Paula, Diego Muzzio, Leandro Avalos Blacha, Carlos Rios, Roque Larraquy, Virginia Cosin, Santiago Loza, Mercedes Halfon, Santiago Craig and Laura Wittner.
Why did it become fashionable to attack progressivism? Paula Puebla and Pablo Seman will reflect on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the place of progressivism at a time when the right has been installed as the new status quo. At 5 p.m., Deborah Eisenbergthe author of The Taj Mahal y Revenge of the Dinosaurs, will talk with his Argentine translator, the writer Federico Falco. The closing on Saturday, at 7:30 p.m., will be with a talk with the Norwegian writer Thomas Reinertsen Berg about how, when and why the global economy was born in a small bottle. Sunday’s expectations are focused on “Writing as a complaint”, at 5 p.m., with the Canadian Marie-Pier Lafontaineauthor of Bitch y Weapons for rage; And finally, at 7:30 p.m., it will be the turn of “Moving between languages”, with the Franco-Senegalese Seynabou Sonko and the actress, writer and translator Mónica Zwaig.
*At the C Complejo Art Media, Corrientes 6271. The complete program is at www.feriadeeditores.com.ar