The U.K. will be the guest of honor at the 29th annual Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), set to run November 28–December 6, in Guadalajara, Mexico. More than 900 publishers from 44 countries will be participating in the nine-day fair, the largest Spanish-language book fair in the world.
Salman Rushdie, who was at the fair in 1995, will return to FIL to kick off the literary program, which includes a total of 650 authors from 38 countries. With Britain as the guest of honor this year, the British delegation includes more than 150 writers, academics, artists, and publishing representatives from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
One of the fair’s key elements are the professionals that attend the first three days of FIL. More than 20,000 librarians, booksellers, distributors, editors, translators, illustrators, and agents are expected to attend this year. The Rights Center, a small space that started a few years ago with a couple of tables, and which looks a bit like a fish bowl, has already booked 125 companies from 27 countries for 2015. The FIL rights center has become an important place for Ibero-America deal making.
As U.S. publishers, librarians, distributors, agents, and authors (such as Jonathan Franzen) prepare to be head to FIL, so is PW. For a full listing of activities, please visit fil.com.mx/ingles.
