The Portuguese space at the fair, in collaboration with Lisbon’s SNOB bookstore, will feature various events organized by the Portuguese Embassy across multiple locations in Madrid.
The Portuguese program kicks off next Tuesday with authors Mia Couto and Alexandra Lucas Coelho participating in the ‘Leer Iberoamérica Lee’ discussions at Casa América, near El Retiro Park, where the Madrid Book Fair runs until June 15.
Mia Couto will engage in a conversation entitled ‘Against Fear’ with Madrid Book Fair director Eva Orúe. Meanwhile, Alexandra Lucas Coelho will discuss ‘Offensive Literature’ alongside poets María Isabel Lara Millapán (Chile) and Edimilson de Almeida Pereira (Brazil).
On the same day at Casa América, authors Raquel Nobre Guerra, Inês Fonseca Santos, João Moita, and Miguel Martins will join musicians Paulo Chagas, João Pedro Viegas, and Paulo Galão for a ‘concert and readings’ event themed ‘Poetry (and Jazz) Hits the Streets’.
Another session at Casa América on June 4 will feature Afonso Reis Cabral in a conversation with Spanish literary critic Ascensión Rivas about his book ‘Gi’, based on the case of Gisberta, a transgender Brazilian woman murdered in Porto by a group of teenagers.
On June 12, Casa América will host a session dedicated to ‘Novas Cartas Portuguesas’ by Maria Isabel Barreno, Maria Teresa Horta, and Maria Velho da Costa.
This session, titled ‘Three Voices, One Global Echo: The New Portuguese Letters Half a Century Later’, will feature journalist and former El Pais director Soledad Gallego-Díaz, university professor and translator Santiago Pérez Isasi, and professor Veronica Palomares.
A day earlier, on June 11, Teolinda Gersão and translator María Jesús Fernández will present the book ‘O regresso de Júlia Mann a Paraty’ at the Eugenio Trías library, located in one of the El Retiro Park buildings.
In addition to these events, the Madrid Book Fair will host writers like Patrícia Portela (for a book signing of ‘Para Cima e Não Para Norte’) and illustrator Inês Viegas Oliveira (for a drawing workshop in the children’s section), among others.
During the book fair, applications will open for the 5th edition of the Literary Residency in Madrid, whose previous winners include José Riço Direitinho, Patrícia Portela, André Murraças, and João Concha.
The Literary Residency in Madrid is part of the annual External Cultural Action program, coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture.
The 84th edition of the Madrid Book Fair, officially opened by Spain’s Queen Letizia on Friday, will feature 365 stands, seven more than in 2024, when around 50,000 people visited in the first ten days, according to organizers. In 2024, over 585,000 books were sold at the fair, totaling nearly 11 million euros.
This year’s edition focuses on New York, featuring authors affiliated with the city, such as Vivian Gornick, Teju Cole, Rebecca Solnit, Garth Greenwell, Catherine Lacey, Junot Díaz, Lucy Sante, Katie Kitamura, and Eliot Weinberger.
Tributes are also planned for writers Mario Vargas Llosa, Carmen Martín Gaite, Federico García Lorca, Paul Auster, Ana María Matute, and Gabriela Mistral.
According to the organizers, more than 400 events are scheduled during the fair.
