The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known as the FIL (from its Spanish name, ), is the largest book fair in the Americas, and second-largest in the world after Frankfurt's. It is considered the most important cultural annual event of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world. The purpose of the FIL is to provide an optimal business environment for the book-industry professionals and exhibitors who attend the fair, and for the reading public eager to meet authors and pick up the latest entries in the market.
Created in 1987, the FIL is put on by the University of Guadalajara and is held at the Expo Guadalajara convention center, which has of floor space. FIL is held every year, starting on the last Saturday in November and continuing for nine days, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
The current managing director of the Guadalajara International Book Fair is Marisol Schulz, and its president from its inception until his death in 2023 was Raúl Padilla López. The book fair won the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in 2020.
Prizes and honours
As a way of rewarding and honouring literary publishing, the FIL awards the following annual prizes and honours:
Premio FIL de Literatura en Lenguas Romances (FIL Award for Literature in Romance Languages; previously known as the Premio de Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe Juan Rulfo) (1991) Premio y Homenaje Nacional de Periodismo Cultural Fernando Benítez (Fernando Benítez Prize and National Homage to Cultural Journalism) (1992) Reconocimiento al Mérito Editorial (Publishing Merit Award) (1993) Premio Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize) (1993) ArpaFIL (1995) Homenaje al Bibliófilo (Homage to Bibliophiles) (2001) Homenaje al Bibliotecario (Homage to Librarians) (2002)
Invited countries or cultural regions
Since 1993, the FIL has invited a country or region to be the guest of honor, providing each an opportunity to display the best of its cultural and literary heritage, as listed in the following table:
Year Guest of Honor Country or RegionFIL: A Cultural Bridge 1993 Colombia 1994 New Mexico 1995 Venezuela 1996 Canada 1997 Argentina 1998 Puerto Rico 1999 Chile 2000 Spain 2001 Brazil 2002 Cuba 2003 Quebec 2004 Catalonia 2005 Peru 2006 Andalusia 2007 Colombia 2008 Italy 2009 Los Angeles 2010 Castile and León 2011 Germany 2012 Chile 2013 Israel 2014 Argentina 2015 United Kingdom 2016 Latin America 2017 Madrid 2018 Portugal 2019 India 2021 Peru2022 Sharjah and Arab culture2023 European Union2025 Barcelona
History
2005 15,357 exhibitors from 45 countries Visitor attendance at the fair was 494,388 2,899 cultural activities
2006 1,307,002 visits were made to the FIL website Visitor attendance was 525,000 84,495 children at activities for children 16,740 exhibitors 1,523 journalists and 439 communications media accredited from 60 countries 296 book presentations with their respective authors 110 literary agents 94 artistic and musical activities
2013 1,935 publishing houses from 43 countries Visitor attendance at the fair was 1,000,000
2016 The acclaimed author George R. R. Martin was a key speaker here where the author provided hints about the next two books in the series A Song of Ice and Fire.
2023 2,469 publishing houses from 61 countries Visitor attendance was 857,315
References
External links
FIL Guadalajara