Portugal’s ambassador to Argentina recalled the 50th anniversary of April 25, 1974 at the opening ceremony of the Buenos Aires Book Fair, which has Lisbon as its guest of honor.
“If it hadn’t happened that day, that morning, I wouldn’t be here with you today (Thursday),” said José Ludovice, with a red carnation on the lapel of his suit, at the inauguration of the 48th edition of the event.
Lisbon’s program for the Buenos Aires Book Fair does not include any ceremony or initiative evoking, or merely alluding to, April 25, and is only indirectly targeted at an event celebrating the “three Marys”.
A film series will show a documentary about the three authors of the “New Portuguese Letters”, Maria Velho da Costa, Maria Teresa Horta and Maria Isabel Barreno.
“There is also an essay by Joana Meirim, called ‘O essencial sobre as três Marias’, and there will be a conversation around literary works that are also political facts, based precisely on the ‘New Portuguese Letters’ and Joana Meirim’s essay,” curator Carla Quevedo told Lusa.
The opening session took place at the end of the day, with a panel that brought together two illustrators (André Letria and Sara Feio), two poets (Frederico Pedreira and Rosa Oliveira) and two comic book authors (Júlia Barata and Filipe Abranches), to talk about Lisbon, what city it is for each of them, and how it inspires them.
Just before the opening ceremony, the Camões Institute and the Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries launched a Support Line for the Translation of Portuguese Language Authors, which targets not only works by Portuguese authors, but also by African and Timorese Portuguese-speaking authors.
Also on Thursday, several exhibitions were inaugurated, which will remain open until the end of the fair on May 12: Casa Fernando Pessoa will have a program of readings of fragments from “The Book of Disquiet”; an international exhibition that brings together illustrators selected by the Guimarães Illustration Biennial with those from an Argentine drawing association; and an exhibition of 10 paintings by André Letria and Sara Feio, which illustrate what Lisbon represents and what unites it with Buenos Aires.
Portuguese comic book author Júlia Barata, who lives in Buenos Aires, led a drawing workshop based on Alexandre O’Neill, which included readings of poems – in Portuguese and Spanish – and exchanges about the author and his work.
In what is one of the largest book fairs in the world, the opening ceremony was marked by criticism of the budget cuts for culture imposed by the new ultra-liberal President Javier Milei.
Book sales fell by around 30% in January in Argentina, due to the economic situation, high inflation, rising paper costs and low wages.
