FILBO is back, the most important book fair in America after two years of absence

After two years of pandemic, the Bogotá International Book Fair (FILBO) returns to Corferias to offer launches and conversations between writers and readers. From April 19 to May 2, visitors will be able to attend one of the most important cultural fairs on the continent.

For this version, the guest country is South Korea. Choo Jong-youn, Korea's ambassador to Colombia, said at the launch of the Fair that one of the lessons of this time of confinement, hospitals and security measures is “that humanity is united more than we imagine. And this event takes that union into consideration.”

With some changes within Corferias for everything related to biosafety, these are the figures for the edition of the FILBO: 500 national and international guests, guests from 30 countries, 500 exhibitors in 3,000 square meters, 1,500 face-to-face events in Corferias and more than 100 FILBO Ciudad events, including bookstores, libraries, schools, universities and other cultural spaces.

The Korean Pavilion: will have more than 100 guests and will bring all their literary and cultural tradition for Colombians to approach them.

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For her part, Culture Minister Angelica Mayolo pointed out that the return to face-to-face not only seeks to revive the economy of the sector, but also aims to encourage reading to boost the market in the country and in the rest of the world. “South Korea's presence will bring Colombians closer to a country with one of the most powerful creative movements in the world and strengthen trade ties between the two nations. This will allow Colombia to be projected as an important destination for learning Spanish as a foreign language and for cultural tourism,” he said.

The president of the Korean Publishers Association, Yoon Chul-ho, assured that the presence of Korean books and authors at FILBO and later that of Colombians at the Seoul Book Fair, is an opportunity to open this market to the other side of the world.

“Participation as a guest of honor at the Bogotá International Book Fair in 2022 is even more significant, as it is the first foreign fair to restart within the framework of the new normal” and “the first opportunity to meet publishers and readers in South America,” the Executive said.

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For South Korea's Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hwang Hee, the fact that his country is the guest of honour at FILBO 2022 will further strengthen ties between the two nations celebrating 60 years of establishing diplomatic relations. Hwang Hee said that when Colombian President Ivan Duque visited South Korea, the two countries promised to develop a more comprehensive and future-oriented cooperative relationship.

He also said that Koreans have been able to read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian Nobel Prize winner for Literature Gabriel García Márquez and communicate through time and space thanks to the power of literature and books.

“Through books, which are a treasure of culture and thought, the friendly cooperative relationship between the two countries will lead to exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, art and industries,” Hee concluded.

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