A total of 14 exhibitors will be present at this year’s edition of the Évora Book Fair, which begins on Saturday, with initiatives alluding to the 25th of April featuring prominently in the program, it was announced today.
Organized by the Évora City Council in collaboration with other entities, the event, which runs until the 21st, takes place outdoors in Largo Conde Vila Flor, next to the Roman temple in the historic center of the Alentejo city.
“This edition coincides with the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of April 25. That’s why the fair is paying particular attention to the revolution and several proposals are included in the program,” the mayor of the town, Carlos Pinto de Sá, told the Lusa news agency.
One of the planned initiatives, said the mayor, is a meeting of poets and popular poetry, which is scheduled for next Wednesday at the premises of the Sociedade Operária de Instrução e Recreio (SOIR) Joaquim António de Aguiar.
“The Book Fair will take place in the usual space, but this year we’re going to have initiatives in various institutions, such as the University of Évora and various associations, and extend the event to the rural parishes of the municipality,” he said.
According to the municipality, the 14 sales and exhibition spaces are occupied by “independent bookshops from Évora and other parts of the country and various institutions”.
As for the program, the highlights on the first day will be the author Ana Markl, who will present her book “Avó, onde é que estavas no 25 de Abril?” (Grandma, where were you on April 25?), and the poet João Luís Barreto Guimarães, who will take part in a conversation about his work.
According to the town hall, various activities are planned “around [geologist] Galopim de Carvalho”, including, on Sunday, the presentation of his latest book, entitled “Ao romper da aurora”.
Writer and screenwriter Sara Rodi, who also has roots in Évora, and crime writer Nuno Nepomuceno will also be at the event for meetings with readers and autograph sessions on the 20th and 21st respectively.
During this Book Fair, there will be posthumous tributes to the playwright and essayist Luiz Francisco Rebello and the writer Luís Carmelo, who was born in Évora.
The show “Ficheiros Secretos”, which comes from the book of the same name by writer and journalist Luís Osório, takes to the stage of the Garcia de Resende Theatre on Monday, also as part of the event’s program.
A cross-border reading marathon, with the participation of schoolchildren from Évora and the Spanish city of Mérida, capital of Extremadura, a region bordering the Alentejo, is another of the activities planned.
The program also includes book presentations, autograph sessions, round tables, lectures, workshops, performances, music and theater shows, storytelling sessions and exhibitions, among other proposals.
