There will be 365 booths, 7 more than in the previous edition of 2024 and it is dedicated to the city of New York
The Madrid Book Fair will host tributes to Mario Vargas Llosa, Carmen Martín Gaite, Federico García Lorca, Paul Auster, Ana María Matute and Gabriela Mistral in its 84th edition, which will be inaugurated by Queen Letizia on May 30.
Thus, the city of New York will «illuminate» the event — which is increasingly gaining international presence — as explained by the delegate of the Culture Area of the Madrid City Council, Marta Rivera de la Cruz. Authors from New York such as Vivian Gornick, Teju Cole, Rebecca Solnit, Garth Greenwell, Catherine Lacey, Junot Díaz, Lucy Sante, Katie Kitamura, and Eliot Weinberger will attend the Parque de Retiro.
In addition, writers such as Eduardo Lago, Kirmen Uribe, Claudia Salazar Jiménez, Lila Zemboráin, Mariela Dreyfus, Frances Negrón Montaner, Guillermo Severiche, and Ana Diz will participate in the more than 400 planned activities.
Although many other authors will participate in these activities, the director of the event, Eva Orúe, has mentioned some names that, although initially only participating in book signings, they hope to «convince» them to get involved in the meetings. «Fernando Aramburu, Milena Busquets, or Joël Dicker,» Orúe revealed.
Until June 15, the Madrid park will host over 1,100 publishing labels that will have individual or shared presence in the 365 booths that will make up the fair, representing an increase of 7 booths compared to the previous edition, which gathered 358 booths.
Specifically, there will be 121 bookstore booths — 59 specialized and 62 generalist–; 214 editorial booths — 145 from Madrid and 103 from other autonomous communities–; 13 distributor booths — 8 from Madrid and 5 from other provinces–; and 17 booths from official entities.
NEW YORK, THROUGH SPANISH AUTHORS WHO LEFT THEIR MARK ON THE CITY
The prominence of the city of New York will be present in relation to Spanish authors who left their mark on the city and those to whom the city left its mark, such as Lorca or Martín Gaite, as explained by Orúe, who added that the event will make a «defense» of the Spanish language. The city also features on this year’s poster, illustrated by Argentine artist Coni Curi.
«From months of work, two major thematic axes emerge. ‘Affections in the city’: what are the affective maps we build from urban space, how the big city changes, the way we relate to ourselves. And the second: ‘Mosaic City’. What is the city for us today? How do languages, cultures, and histories intersect in the same urban geography? In this way, we will explore how literature draws emotional and political maps of the urban. Writers and readers will discuss exiles and nostalgia, links and memories, weaving, we hope, a bridge between shores and generations,» Orúe added.
At this point, the director has «regretted» that Rita Indiana, one of the program advisors, will not be able to travel to Madrid due to a ‘mandatory recommendation’ issued by the University of New York, which, due to the situation of American universities, has requested both teaching staff and students not to leave the country for «administrative reasons.»
«I understand that it refers to the migratory situation, but I don’t want to elaborate because I don’t know,» Orúe acknowledged.
In the 2024 edition, there were 7,000 signings by 2,600 authors, and over 585,000 copies were sold for a value close to 11 million euros, as pointed out by Rivera de la Cruz. These 245,000 titles in the 83rd edition were signed by both «bestselling» authors and unknown writers.
Among the activities that will inaugurate the Madrid Book Fair is the awarding of the Lealtad Prize to ONCE or the talk ‘Hispanic United States: a defense of Spanish’, which will delve into the city where 5.1 million people speak Spanish.
The tribute to Mario Vargas Llosa will be led by his publisher, Alfaguara, while the tribute to Lorca will be divided into two conversations that will study the relevance of his work and his relationship with the city in focus.
Later, Ana María Matute will be remembered on the centenary of her birth by authors Dolores Redondo, Manuel Vilas, and María Paz Ortuño. In the case of Martín Gaite, her time in New York will be central in the event in which José Teruel, Andrea Aguilar, and Andrea Toribio will participate.
As for Auster, his tribute will be more «cinematic» than «literary,» Orúe pointed out, also explaining that it will be part of the Málaga Festival.
The new edition of the fair, as explained by Orúe, also aims to recognize the work of journalism and in that sense has prepared a tribute to American journalists of the sixties and seventies — Joan Didion, Wolfe, Talese, Capote — in ‘Frank Sinatra Has a Cold. Tribute to the New Journalism Band’.
