What is known about the guests of the Bogotá International Book Fair

It's more than a fact: the Bogotá International Book Fair will be face-to-face and will start in exactly two weeks. Corferias will once again be the stage and the Colombian Book Chamber will be the entity in charge of organizing the event most awaited by readers. For this year, South Korea is the guest country and the organizers promise diverse days where everyone and everyone can feel welcome. In 2022, the “FilBo returns for you to come back”.

In figures, the Chamber reports that for this year there will be around 1,438 events that will be held both at the fairgrounds and in different bookstores in the city and cultural centers. It is estimated that there are 22 participating countries, 197 national guests and 105 international guests. Among the most interesting names are Mircea Cartarescu, the Romanian who in recent years has sounded strongly to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, J. J. Benitez, the famous author of Trojan Horse, John Katzenbach, known worldwide for The Psychoanalyst, Camila Sosa, the author Argentine fashion, and Benjamin Lacombe, the famous French illustrator, among many others.

Here are the profiles of some of the authors who will be part of this celebration around the book:

Hector Abad Faciolince (Colombia)

He was born in Medellin (Colombia) in 1958. He studied Modern Languages and Literatures at the University of Turin (Italy). In addition to essays, translations and literary criticism, he has published, among others, the following books: Matters of a Dissolute Hidalgo (Alfaguara, 1994), Culinary Treatise for Sad Women (Alfaguara, 1997), Fragments of Furtive Love (Alfaguara, 1998), Angosta (2003; Alfaguara, 2020), The Oblivion We Will Be ( 2006; Alfaguara, 2017), La Occulta (Alfaguara, 2015) and What was present (Alfaguara, 2019). With his third novel, Basura (2000; Debolsillo, 2017), he won the 1st Casa de América Award for Innovative Narrative in Spain. He has also published a book of poems, Involuntary Testament (2011); one of essays, The Forms of Laziness (Aguilar, 2007; Debolsillo, 2017), and another narrative book, Betrayals of Memory (Alfaguara, 2009). His books have been translated into more than fifteen languages.

Juan Camilo Rincon (Colombia)

Master's degree in literary studies from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Winner of the District Award of Crónica Idartes, in 2018, and of scholarships awarded by this institute, the Ministry of Culture and the National Library of Colombia, the National Fund for Culture and the Arts of Mexico, and the Argentine Government. He has collaborated with different media such as El Tiempo and El Espectador, in Colombia; Publishers Weekly in Spanish, for Spain and Mexico; El Universal in Mexico, and El Telégrafo in Ecuador. His chronicles were chosen among the best by El Tiempo in 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

He has been a jury of national short story and stimulus competitions of MinCultura and Idartes, and invited to book fairs and talks on Latin American literature in Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico. He is the author of the books: Being Colombian is an act of faith. Stories of Borges and Colombia (2014), Journey to the Heart of Cortázar (2015), Our Memory Is Forever (Digital, 2017) and Colombia and Mexico: Between Blood and Word (2022). It has been reviewed in the magazines Casa de las Américas (Cuba) and Borges Variations of the University of Pittsburgh.

Fatima Velez (Colombia)

Fatima Velez Giraldo was born in Manizales, Colombia, in 1985. He studied literature at the Universidad de los Andes, and did a master's degree in Creative Writing at the National University of Colombia and a PhD in Hispanic American Cultural Studies from CUNY (City University of New York). She was the founder of the residency for artists Residencia en la Tierra. In 2015 he published the poems Casa Paterna, From porn and the slugs in 2016 and Interior Design in 2019. Laguna Libros published in 2021 its first novel Galapagos, which was widely received by readers. He lives in New York.

Vanessa Londono (Colombia)

Vanessa Londoño (1985) is a lawyer from the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, and a teacher in Creative Writing from New York University. His work has been published in media such as Revista Brando (Argentina), The Clinic (Chile), El Malpensante (Colombia), Vice (Mexico), Americas Quarterly (United States) and El Faro (El Salvador). In 2017 he won the Aura Estrada Award and the New Plumas Award from FIL Guadalajara. His first novel The Animal Siege (2021) has been published in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and, recently, in Brazil.

Megan Cox Gurdon (USA)

Essayist, book critic and former foreign correspondent. She has been a children's book reviewer for “The Wall Street Journal” since 2005. His essays have been widely disseminated and have been published in media such as “The Washington Examiner”, “The Daily Telegraph”, “The Christian Science Monitor”, “The Washington Post”, “The San Francisco Chronicle” and “National Review”. A graduate of Bowdoin College, she lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband, Hugo Gurdon, and their five children.

Gabriel Wiener (Peru)

(Lima, 1975) is the author of the books Sexographies, Mozart with Priapism and Other Stories, Lost Call, They Say About Me and the book of poems Exercises for the Hardening of the Spirit. His texts have appeared in various anthologies and have been translated into English, Portuguese, Polish, German, French and Italian. She was editor-in-chief of Marie Claire magazine in Spain and today she regularly publishes opinion columns for Eldiario.es, Vice and for the Spanish-language content of the New York Times, as well as a video column on lamula.pe. She won her country's National Journalism Award for an investigative report on a case of gender-based violence. She is the creator of several literary performances that she has staged with her family and of the play Qué locura me enamorar yo de ti. He currently lives in Madrid.

Pedro Alonso O'choro (Spain)

Actor, writer and passionate painter. He has become known worldwide for his role as Berlin in La casa de papel, as well as having starred roles in productions such as Gran Hotel and The Ministry of Time. This is the name Pedro González Alonso uses to sign his novels. In 2020, he made his debut on the literary scene with The Book of Philip, an illustrated book that borders on autobiography and fiction.

Tiago Ferro (Brazil)

(São Paulo, 1976). Writer and editor, he is one of the founders of the e-book publisher e-galaxy and the essay magazine Peixe-Elétrico. He regularly writes cultural essays for important media such as Piauí, Cult, Serrote, the Moreira Sales Institute blog and the Pernambuco Supplement. He holds a master's degree in Social History from the University of São Paulo and is researching the work of literary critic Roberto Schwarz in the doctoral program of the same university. The father of the dead girl is her first novel and received the Jabuti Prize in the novel category and the São Pablo Prize for Literature 2019.

FilBo will be attended by authors from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and several other countries. In addition, the guest country will bring a large delegation of writers, artists and academics who will feed the programming of this new edition of the FilBo, which will also hold some events digitally and in various schools in the city.

For more information: https://feriadellibro.com/es

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