With an air of reunion, at the ceremony the Argentine singer-songwriter Víctor Heredia performed “Como la cigarra” by María Elena Walsh, before an audience full of representatives of the publishing sector, who anxiously hopes to resume next year the dizzying rhythm that the dizzying rhythm imposes at every opportunity. fair.
Ezequiel Martínez, who presented himself as “the new one” in the renewed structure of the Foundation organizing the fair, said that the place he occupies “is almost a dream place for someone who has worked all his life around books and reading. “and considered that in this” atypical and different “context, the fair” more than ever, should be a celebration for the return. “
Martínez also pointed out that “with the emphasis placed on diversity and plurality of voices and ideas,” they visited “publishing houses, embassies and different international cooperation organizations to accompany us in the task of being able to count on the visit of the most important personalities. relevant books and culture “and although he did not provide names in that sense, he did announce that the opening speech of the Fair will be given by Guillermo Saccomanno.
“Taking the title of one of his books, nothing is further from” the indifference of the world “when his name and surname are mentioned,” he said in reference to the author of novels such as “Bajo Bandera” and “Cámara Gesell”, among others.
Regarding the guest of honor city, Martínez said that “it was decided to support the application of Havana, noting that” last year they were going to be present with an important delegation of authors and representatives of Cuban culture, and they had prepared a excellent programming. “
Ariel Granica, who highlighted the fair’s capacity for resistance and resilience to the onslaught of the pandemic, recalled that 2019 was “an especially difficult year for the book sector: the macroeconomy was flying through the air, sales were going underground “And when no one imagined something worse, the pandemic arrived which forced the event to be suspended for two editions, and before that fact he considered that” this act is a unique and different moment, it is a relaunch and it is a reunion, it is a tribute and celebration ” .
In this scenario, where Granica spoke of the damage that the pandemic produced to the publishing sector, he said that the authorities expect “sustained support that places the book in its rightful place.”
The head of the entity highlighted the role of Banco Nación as the “new main sponsor” of the fair since “it will grant a special line of credits for exhibitors.” This agreement “is associated with the realization of a large number of activities and lightens the burden of the Foundation, therefore of the exhibitors: Eduardo Hecker, president of the BNA and Federico Sánchez, vice president, know the importance of the Book and the quality of the sector. They are both great readers, that always shows when making decisions, “he said.
Within the agenda ahead of the sector, Granica mentioned “the unfortunate issue of VAT in the book and in particular for bookstores that, inexplicably, were left out of all consideration.”
In a compendium of favorable actions, the Foundation leader highlighted “the return of the National Reading Plan, with the purchase of more than 2 million copies that reached more than 46 thousand schools throughout the country”, and the implementation of Felba 1 and 2 fairs, together with the Ministry of Culture of the City, to “give support to the booksellers of the city, which is where the pandemic hit the most.”
Among other activities that favor the survival of the book, the manager mentioned the Virtual Children’s and Youth Fair; 12 high-quality virtual courses on various topics: from Borges to feminisms, through science fiction and the promotion of children’s literature in the classroom.
Granica highlighted the Librero Amigo program, the “book%” program by Conabip “admired worldwide” and the Felba 3, Tecnópolis, Malvinas, and Merlo fairs, in the progressive return to normality.
Looking ahead to next year’s fair, Granica explained that they are working “on improving the experience of entering the Fair, optimizing the online invitations and tickets system; and the Amigo Librero Program and paid logistics are being supported; and confirmed that there will be a FEL Book Check, for which commercial arrangements are being made to provide it with the highest possible volume.
In addition, the head of the Foundation considered “fundamental the More Culture Program of the Ministry of Culture of the Nation through which 5,000 pesos are awarded to young people for cultural consumption” and valued “the relaunch of the Cultural Pass carried out by the Ministry of Culture of the City, together with the young Chequelibro that can be used to buy books at the Fair “.
For the Minister of Culture, Tristán Bauer, the Fair “has absolute centrality in a time of resurrection and reconstruction of culture and literature.”
In this framework, he offered all his support to the El Libro Foundation and thanked the head of Conabip, for “an investment of more than 120 million pesos, reaching more than 300 publishers with the book percent that we are going to promote again in this fair”.
He also highlighted the management of Banco Nación and its head, Eduardo Hecker, “who always accompanies cultural events in Argentina.”
Among other actions, and from the evocation of María Elena Walsh, Bauer recalled that at the beginning of the pandemic, upon learning that the singer-songwriter’s childhood home located in Morón could be demolished, the Ministry under his charge decided to acquire it to transform it into a cultural center.
The Minister of Culture valued the importance of the Fair for the promotion of reading, when manifesting “a lover of literature” and pointing out that many of his cinematographic works evoke works by Cortázar, Borges, San Juan de la Cruz, and Kafka .
Bauer also recalled that from the Ministry of Culture
a program was launched, which a judge prevented us from applying for a while, and today we are taking it forward to a universe of more than one and a half million young people over 18 years of age, from the universe of Progresar and the AUH that makes available a card of 15 thousand pesos, so that they can go to the cinema, to the theater, to see live music, buy books and live that unique experience of reading. “
The Minister of Culture recalled when in his youth he attended a conference that Jorge Luis Borges gave in an edition of the Book Fair, where he said: “of the various instruments of man, the most amazing is undoubtedly the book, the others are extensions of his body, the microscope, the telescope are extensions of his sight, the telephone is an extension of his voice, then we have the plow and the sword, extensions of the arm, but the book is something else, the book is the extension of the memory and imagination “.
“Around that memory and imagination the book community arises,” he said and recalled that work is being done “to rebuild the building of the national library on Mexico Street, where Borges worked, because the state in which we received it is dire “.
Meanwhile, the Buenos Aires Minister of Culture, Enrique Avogadro, said he felt “enormous emotion” for the return of the traditional landmark and considered it “difficult to imagine the culture of the city” without this event that brings together more than a million people.
The official considered “an enormous emotion” the return of the fair to the City because “the publishing sector was very hit” in this year and a half.
Avogadro considered that “on this very long night of the pandemic we never lowered our arms and invented a new fair, the Felba, to go out into the open air and meet again between publishers, bookstores and the reading public”, in three editions.
The official highlighted the return of “‘The night of the bookstores’ to the city of Buenos Aires, on a magical night, with a notable attendance of the public” and recalled “the relaunch of the cultural pass, with which money is allocated for girls and boys from Buenos Aires schools that they can use in cultural activities “and according to the data they handle” the first thing they do with that money is buy books. “
Source From: Ambito
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