Barcelona is to be the guest city of honour at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) 2025, the most important Iberian American book fair, held annually since 1987. The event will include three thousand activities, with authors from some fifty countries attending. The fair offers a chance to relaunch Barcelona’s cultural and economic position in Latin America and in major emerging Hispanic sectors in the USA.
The announcement was made on November 24 by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the general director of FIL, Marisol Schulz.
A curator will be established to define the content for Barcelona’s presence at the Guadalajara International Book Fair, along with a group to promote the city, resulting from private-public collaboration with representatives from the civil society.
The fair has featured a guest region, city or country of honour since 1993. The guest of honour plays an important role in each section of the event and Barcelona has made a commitment to carry out the following:
- construction and ambience of the pavilion
- coordination and funding of a delegation of authors which includes as many categories and literary genres as possible
- dissemination of scientific heritage through leading content and figures
- guarantee a significant representation of editors, translators and agents
- boost the sector for illustration, design and new formats
- coordination with the University of Guadalajara on a programme to connect with the university and local academic world
- programme of shows for spectators between the ages of 3 and 12
- programme of visual and performing arts shows
- design of the gastronomy festival and the film area
- promotion of recent full-length films
- definition of the creative concept