News

Guadalajara 2000
Sally Taylor -- 12/11/00
The Boom in Books in Spanish



This year's Guadalajara Book Fair (known as FIL in Spanish) was nothing short of booming, both physically and literarily. In the Spanish-language world, where famous authors have the status of American movie stars, it is no wonder that the likes of García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes drew a record 350,000 visitors over the course of the nine-day event. But the number of professionals attending broke records, too. FIL's U.S. coordinator, David Unger, gives partial credit to the smooth transition of power from Ernesto Zedillo to the new Mexican president, Vicente Fox, which occurred two days after the fair ended.

"After suffering strong devaluations in each of the last three election years, it is heartening for everyone to find the peso stronger this year than last," Unger told PW. "The prognosis for a strong, stable Mexican economy is very good and, of course, this bodes well for Mexican publishers. My anecdotal information is that everyone has felt an increase in sales."
John Wiley and McGraw-Hill
were among the American
exhibitors at the fair.
The modern, open-air exposition hall sported a huge new wing, adding 30% more space to the facility (10,000 square meters) and accommodating 10,500 professionals, 23% more than last year. Though not as "open air" as the rest of the facility, and thus a little stuffy in the mild, flowering Guadalajara climate, the added space gave ample room for a record 1,035 exhibitors, including 45 from the U.S. and Canada.
In addition to returning participants such as Lightning Source, Lonely Planet, Llewellyn, Cinco Puntos, Raincoast, Chronicle and Steck Vaughn, new exhibitors included Academic Press, Dover, Trident International, Krishnamurti Books and RightsCenter.com.

Many were on hand to sell rights to their English titles, find partners for possible Spanish-language publications and advertise recently published Spanish-language versions of their most popular titles. For Lightning Source, represented by Lorella Pollini, the purpose of the FIL trip was to advertise the advantages of their print-on-demand service in a country where print runs are often low.

With growing markets and independent publishing operations in much of Latin America now, all the big houses from Spain had huge stands. Many smaller houses from Spain, this year's honor country, were also more visible.

The largest increase in country representation came from the U.K. Among the 23 professionals, Lord Matthew Evans, chairman of Faber and Faber Publishers, was ebullient. As an educational adviser to the U.K., Lord Evans expressed astonishment at what he found in electronic educational developments in Mexico. "I'm going back to our Department of Education in the U.K. to say we have something to learn from Mexico," he told PW. "Particularly in teaching electronically. I haven't seen anything like it, even in the U.S.A."

Just before coming to Guadalajara, the British contingent visited the Mexico City campus of Techno Monterey, one of a group of private, electronically wired university-level teaching facilities around the country. It was one of several advanced systems they found in Mexico using online teaching and delivering materials electronically to students at various school levels. "The paradox is, a developing country is leading the world in the use of technology in education," Lord Evans concluded.

Guadalajara also drew a record 49 literary agents this year, and the jump was no surprise to PW's Marcela Valdes. As a first timer at the fair, Valdes was part of the PW team announcing a new quarterly review of books in Spanish, Criticas, which will appear next year in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and School Library Journal.


"I thought the fair was fabulous," said Valdes, who will coordinate adult book reviews for Criticas. "I would definitely recommend it to any publisher interested in Spanish-language books. But you have to make an effort to walk around and visit the smaller publishers represented there. It's easy to get sucked into seeing just the big ones--there are so many of them--but then you'd miss out on a lot of good, smaller houses."

Maria Otero-Boisvert, children's book review editor for the new Criticas, was even more adamant about the value of this fair: "I'd say that any American librarians, booksellers or publishers with interest in or responsibility for Spanish-language materials must attend this important event."

While serving the local community, the Guadalajara Book Fair, though not an official national event, has become essential for the worldwide Spanish-language book trade.

Next year's event will be November 24 to December 2, 2001, with Brazil the country of honor and the first three weekdays reserved for professionals. There will also be a separate agents center. For details, contact David Unger at FILNY@aol.com.