Anna Guitart, curator of the Barcelona programme at FIL 2025

The journalist and scriptwriter Anna Guitart (Barcelona, 1976) has been appointed curator of the Barcelona programme as the guest city in Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) 2025, which will take place from 29 November to 7 December next year. Guitart will be responsible for designing the literary and artistic proposal that will be presented in Guadalajara. With the collaboration of the publishing and book sector, she will be responsible for compiling the list of authors invited to the fair, the most important cultural event in Ibero-America, which offers around 3,000 activities over nine days and gives special importance to those proposed by the guest of honour.

Anna Guitart is a journalist and scriptwriter, specialising in literature and books. She started working at Ràdio Barcelona and then at the programme La República, by Joan Barril, at COM Ràdio. She was part of the crew of the documentary Setembres, by Carles Bosch. She has worked as a scriptwriter on programmes such as De què va (Canal 33), El bocamoll (TV3) and Via Llibre (Canal 33). She also directed the second season of the programme Savis (Canal 33). In 2015 she started presenting the book section of the programme Tria33 (Canal 33). Since 2017, she has presented and directed the literary interview programme Tot el temps del món (Canal 33). She also collaborates with the TV3 programme Tot es mou, El matí de Catalunya Ràdio and the newspaper Ara, and is an editorial advisor for the magazine El món d’ahir.

Since 1993, FIL has had the presence of a region, city or country Guest of Honour. Last year it was the European Union and in the 2024 edition it will be Spain. The invitation to Barcelona to participate in the FIL in this honorary category was made public last October, in an event with the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the Director General of the fair, Marisol Schulz. At that time, the Mayor defined Barcelona’s participation in the fair as “the most ambitious commitment to the international dissemination of our writers and publishers that we have ever made from Barcelona”.

The decision to appoint a curator is motivated by the multidisciplinary nature of the initiative. The guest of honour has a leading role in all areas of the event and Barcelona is committed to carrying out the following actions: construction and setting of the Pavilion; coordinating and financing a delegation of authors that includes the maximum number of literary categories and genres; disseminating the scientific heritage by providing information and reference people; guaranteeing a large representation of publishers, translators and agents; promoting the sector of illustration, design and new formats. It is also committed to coordinating with the University of Guadalajara a programme of engagement with the local university and academic world; to make a proposal of shows for spectators between the ages of 3 and 12; programme visual and performing arts activities and shows; design the gastronomic festival and in the field of cinema, promote recently filmed feature films, both fiction and documentaries, and define the creative concept of both design and communication. For the guest city, participation in the fair also means having potential coverage by more than 545 international media from 17 countries.