Guadalajara's Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL), the Spanish-language world's most prominent book fair, celebrated its 18th anniversary in Mexico from November 27 to December 5. Every year, the fair gains more popularity as the place for the Spanish-language world's cultural elite to be and be seen. Mexican president Vicente Fox made an appearance on December 3 and all the crème de la crème of Spanish-language letters was available for closeups. Gabriel García Márquez, still riding high from the remarkable international sales of his latest novella, Memoria de mis putas tristes (My Melancholy Whores), was spotted hitting the dance floor of the popular Casino Veracruz with fellow Mexican Boom writer Carlos Fuentes. The sequel to García Márquez's novella, See You in August, will be released by Random House in August. Other notable authors who appeared during the week's events were Antonio Skármeta, Laura Restrepo, Carlos Ruiz Zafón, José Saramago, Elena Poniatowska and James Ellroy. García Márquez presented Juan Goytisolo with the fair's top literary prize, the Premio Juan Rulfo. The Barcelona-born intellectual recently made his cinematic debut in Jean Luc Godard's film Notre Musique.
As the U.S. Spanish-language market continues to expand its distribution and title selection, reps from Brodart, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble and Advanced Marketing Services, among others, could be seen roaming the aisles. For Borders's Spanish buyer Aaron Feit, networking at FIL is getting more gratifying each year now that distribution to the U.S. is more efficient: "In the past, I used to see great books, but the reality was there was no way of getting them into U.S. stores. Now if you're looking for things missing in certain genres and you find them, you can be an advocate to help [publishers] get distributors and make connections to the U.S. market." Feit, who enjoys seeing small but quality international houses receive good distribution to America, was excited that Spain's Editorial Roca and Editorial Obelisco will now be distributed by Spanish publisher Urano's offices in Miami. He was also pleased that Mexico's children's line Klutz Latino teamed up with IPG for special markets.
FIL is the place where those working with Spanish books can get a preview of upcoming hot titles from abroad. During the show, celebrated Mexican detective writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II announced that he and the charismatic ski-masked Zapatista leader, Subcommandante Marcos, will be penning a detective novel entitled Awkward Deaths, about Mexico City's corrupt society. Planeta's editorial director for Mexico, Jesús Anaya, will edit their alternating chapters for Latin America and Spain. In the U.S., Seven Stories Press, which has translated Taibo and the intellectual rebel in the past, is rumored to be negotiating the rights for the English edition.
Another fiction title to look for in March is Santillana's Spanish translation of Esmeralda Santiago's latest novel, TheTurkish Lover (El amante turco). Also in Santillana's fiction lineup for the spring is Mario Vargas Llosa's La tentación de lo imposible (The Temptation of the Impossible), Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Cabo Trafalgar and Laura Esquivel's long-awaited study of Hernán Córtes's La Malinche. In a move to bring U.S. pop culture to Spanish speakers worldwide, Santillana will translate Dr. Phil McGraw's The Ultimate Weight Solution and its cookbook for Spanish readers.
With Spain's Catalan region as its special guest, FIL hosted 14,488 professionals and 1,573 publishing houses from 38 countries this year. U.S. participation continues to increase, with 180 publishing professionals and 200 librarians making the trip and publishers and other companies taking 53 booths. David Unger, the U.S. representative for FIL, is most pleased about the growth of the fair's rights center for literary and foreign agents. "We will be increasing the space for 2005 to 60 tables and believe that Guadalajara can be a useful fair for finalizing deals initiated in Frankfurt," Unger said.
