Jorge Santander heads along to Buenos Aires International Book Fair, the world’s largest Spanish language book fair, to investigate Argentina’s love affair with literature.

Camera & Editing: Jorge Santander

Each year the Buenos Aires book fair is staged within the grand setting of La Rural where the three week event hosts a wide range of discussions, readings and book signings. Complete with a central courtyard full of horses being groomed, the space is transformed into a maze of publishing houses who set up shop for the 1.2 million book lovers who frequent the annual fair. The autumn event is aimed at readers as opposed to publishers, offering up an incredible variety of books that is unparalleled by bookstores in the city.

Teens peruse the stands at the 2011 Feria de Libros (Photo: Estrella Herrera)

Following the tag-line “A city open to a world of books” the fair is subdivided into both countries around the globe and smaller Argentine regions providing a structure of press houses from these locations. The stalls are also at times topic or language specific: a stand dedicated to Buddhism, another for books in Arabic, and a large site dedicated to books available in English.

Attracting masses of bookworms each year, the stalls are visited by patrons who peruse the voluminous stands at their leisure, flicking through books on topics from jazz music to sustainable architecture.

In a city awash with independent and second hand bookshops, the fair is unexpectedly commercial, meeting the demands of a nation where buying books on amazon is not an option. But the upside of it’s commercial nature means that for three weeks a vast array of books are accessible to all willing to pay the $15 entry fee.

The fair also puts on a whole host of events to encourage the customers to get involved: classes for children are run alongside the publishers stands; interactive showroom exhibits; and a radio show being recorded live to entice people to stand and watch. Several conference rooms are the set of the wide range of talks and readings scheduled over the weeks and the 37th literary fair has not disappointed. It has already witnessed a discussion about the language of the city and the Porteño dialect, an interview with pianist and composer Atilio Stampone, and a homage to the celebrated María Elena Walsh, who died earlier this year. All this and much more have accompanied the presentations of books and discussions with authors.

As the last days of the fair approach, it continues to promise literary treats such as the presentation of ‘The Ghosts of Petrova’ by V.I. Berra, Thursday being dedicated to Buenos Aires, and a discussion of the history of National Radio since 1937.

Yesterday Nobel Literature Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa delivered a speech at the Buenos Aires book fair, which opened this week.

The public were on tenterhooks after many important figures protested Vargas Llosa’s being invited to speak in light of his anti-government stance, even demanding that the author refuse the invitation. President Fernández de Kirchner personally intervened, ordering that their protest letter be removed in case Argentina became known as a country where freedom of expression was not protected. She declared that, despite their differences, Vargas Llosa had a right to speak.

Vargas Llosa arrived with extensive security but the event passed without hiccup and his remarks were greeted by rapturous applause.

The author opened his 90-minute speech by thanking the President for her intervention and then went onto talk about literature and freedom. “Nazis, fascists, communists, military and civilian caudillos have tried to shut down literature over the centuries, but fortunately they have always failed,” he said. “To this day, Latin Americans still have problems telling fiction from reality. This is highly beneficial for art and literature, but a catastrophe in other areas where pragmatism makes the difference between a country floating or sinking.”

The opening of his famous novel Conversation in the Cathedral reads: “Argentina was a First World country when three quarters of Europe were Third World, at the turn of the 20th century: what happened? When did poverty and political violence enter Argentina?”  He declared that his criticism of local politics comes “out of love for Argentina”.

More than 900 watched the discourse in the Jorge Luis Borghes auditorium. Another 200 watched on a big screen in a separate hall. In a first for the book fair, four news networks broadcast the speech.

Peruvian literature Nobel Mario Vargas Llosa, arrived in the country to attend a meeting of liberal leaders from all over the world and, mainly, to give an opening conference in Buenos Aires’ 37^th Book Fair. Last year, when his participation in the event was announced, a group of intellectuals questioned his coming to Buenos Aires because of his opposition to the Kirchners.

The writer first visited Jorge Luis Borges International Fundation –a museum directed by the Argentine writer’s widow María Kodama- in the neighbourhood of Recoleta. The literature Nobel toured the old house where the Foundation is based, not only accompanied by his wife Patricia Llosa, but also by Kodama herself, the city’s mayor Mauricio Macri and his wife Juliana Awada. Later, the city’s culture minister Hernán Lombardi also joined the retinue.

Kodama showed Vargas Llosa a replica of Borges’ bedroom, his personal library and an extensive yet incomplete collection of Sur magazine, a traditional publication in the country.  “To me, it was nice to meet Vargas Llosa and his wife again. I had once been in their home with Borges, but that was long ago. It was also a very gratifying meeting because Vargas Llosa valued the effort I do to keep Borges’ memoirs alive”, said Kodama to daily La Nación. “Vargas Llosa was also impressed with Borges’ drawings and with his scrawling in some books. It was a nice and relaxed meeting and we only talked about Borges and literature”.

Around 2pm, the Peruvian writer and his entourage headed to Proa Foundation –a museum in La Boca home to Maman, a 9-metre tall spider by artist Louise Bourgeois.  The foundation’s director, Adriana Rosenberg, greeted the writer and alongside his son Alvaro Llosa, joined the literature Nobel for lunch.

Then, Vargas Llosa expressed his reluctant preference for candidate Ollanta Humala in detriment of Keiko Fujimori in the presidential second ballot in Peru. Buenos Aires’ being the world’s book capital for 2011 and, yet again, Borges, were the topics of discussion.

The Peruvian writer donated his complete works to library Miguel Cané –where Borges worked- with a brief prologue about his relationship with the city of Buenos Aires. Vargas Llosa also agreed in inaugurating exhibition El atlas de Borges, portraits of Borges and Kodama’s travelling.