Argentina promotes its literature and publishing industry at the most important international book fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair, the most important international fair in the publishing field, will take place until Sunday 14 October.
As every year since 2009, the Argentine Republic will have its own pavilion where a programme of cultural and literary activities will be carried out, including the presence of renowned Argentine authors and foreign academics, as well as the traditional promotion of the Sur Translation Support Programme.
The 128-m2 Argentine Pavilion, designed and built by the Argentine Investment and International Trade Agency, will convey through its design the contribution of women to Argentine art, especially literature. The pavilion will be adorned with a gigantography of "The Parthenon of Books," by Marta Minujín, and will display photographs of great Argentine female authors, including Sara Gallardo, Liliana Bodoc, Silvina Ocampo y Olga Orozco, among others.
The pavilion will feature a dozen Argentine publishing houses, which will present their books and sell their publications. The Secretariat of Culture took part in the joint work for the shipment of over a hundred Argentine books which convey the literary diversity of independent Argentine publishers.
Given the increasing international interest in the literary works of Argentine female authors, the Foreign Ministry, through the Directorate for Cultural Affairs, invited Carla Maliandi, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, Vera Giaconi and Ariana Harwicz to participate in round tables and conversatories, as well as activities with other Ibero-American authors invited by the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The promotion of the Sur Translation Support Programme, a permanent policy of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, at the Auditorium of the Pavilion is one of the highlights of the programme. On 10 October, a round table on public policies on translation will be held, with the participation of the top authorities of translation programmes from Canada, Brazil and Bulgaria, in order to discuss shared experiences and future strategies. This event will be preceded by a meeting with foreign publishing houses which were granted subsidies for the publication of Argentine books in foreign languages.
Since its creation in 2009, the Sur Translation Support Programme has subsidized the translation of over 1210 books by approximately 400 Argentine authors, into 45 languages and in 50 countries. It is expected that support will be provided for the translation of 150 new works in 2018.
Over 100 countries will take part in the Fair this year, including Georgia as guest of honour. 286,000 visitors are expected to attend the Fair, including approximately 170,000 publishers, agents and businesspeople, and approximately 115,000 private visitors. In addition, there will be 10,000 accredited journalists from 75 countries.
This year, the organizers of the Fair expect sales volume to exceed EUR 700 million. In 2017, sales amounted to EUR 669 million, 4% more than in 2016.
This year, the Argentine Pavilion will also host the presentation of the International Convention of University Presses, featuring university presses from all over the world.
There will be a presentation of the Argentine publishing industry for book-related professionals from all over the world, an exhibition of the Catalogue of University Press Rights in Argentina and Latin-America, and a round table on the role of critics, academics and translators as literary intermediaries and the increasing translation of football-related books, with the participation of journalist/author Luciano Wernicke and foreign publishers.
Following the Fair, the invited Argentine female authors will take part in a Meeting on Argentine Literature at the Goethe University in Frankfurt and an International Seminar at the University of Cologne.
Press Release No. 401/2018
