Abstract
The objective of this paper is to analyse the presence of Germany and France as Guests of Honour at Feria del Libro de Madrid with regard to the interdependences between the book fair and its visiting countries. By means of expert interviews with the organisers, I studied the processes of selection, the objectives and the realisation of ¡AleManía! in 2011 and France como un libro abierto in 2016, as well as their accordance with the idea of bibliodiversity. In the past, the Guest of Honour seems to have played the role of an additional financial sponsor providing also further legitimacy for the public sales fair through its cultural programme. The guest countries in fact offer a variety of cultural and literary events at the venue, even though the selection of invited authors consists of actors with a strong or even dominant position in the respective literary field and therefore does not represent its diversity in every respect.
Highlights
Feria del Libro de Madrid and its Guests of Honour. 2
Feria del Libro de Madrid, a book fair aimed at readers and the general public, has been one of the most important cultural events in the heart of the city since its establishment in 1933 and, with a few exceptions, has taken place each year since
As can be seen later in the analysis of the French presentation, Feria del Libro de Madrid announced the attendance of France as Guest of Honour only shortly before the fair began
Summary
Feria del Libro de Madrid, a book fair aimed at readers and the general public, has been one of the most important cultural events in the heart of the city since its establishment in 1933 and, with a few exceptions, has taken place each year since . Only recently the management of Feria del Libro de Madrid officially invites countries as Guests of Honour to present their literature and culture to the public at the fair – a practice that many international book fairs have implemented during the last decades. I will pursue the issue of cultural-political interdependences between Feria del Libro de Madrid and its Guests of Honour For this purpose, the presentations of Germany in 2011 (¡AleManía!) and of France in 2016 (France como un libro abierto) serve as examples, in terms of their spatial presence at the fair as well as the organisation of events and exhibitions as a whole. The analysis of ¡AleManía! and France como un libro abierto is preceded by a short outline on the situation of German and French literature on the current Spanish book market
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