The 93rd Lisbon Book Fair kicks off this Thursday in Eduardo VII Park with what the organization calls “the biggest offer ever”, a return to traditional dates between May and June.
Although forced to “keep the same space as last year” in preparation for World Youth Day, as President of the Portuguese Association of Publishers and Booksellers (APEL) Pedro Sobral said in a press presentation fair, the event will have “the biggest offer ever”.
This Thursday, for example, signings are by Isabela Figueiredo, José Milhazes, Alice Vieira and Joao Pedro Georges, among many others.
Another highlight of this year is the National Reading Plan (PNL), presented for the first time at the Lisbon Book Fair with daily programs.
“We have opened a reading room for readers and non-readers from 0 to 100. All members of the NLP team, including the commissioner and deputy commissioner, will offer books for different states of mind. Those who visit us in the west of the Fair auditorium, from 18:00 to 19:00, on weekdays they will be given the right to dialogue, a poem to read and listen to, and a leaflet with suggestions for fiction, non-fiction and children’s books. “, PNL said in a statement this week.
This year, the Lisbon Book Fair will feature 139 exhibitors, over 980 editorial prints and the same 340 pavilions as the 2022 edition.
This edition is expected to feature “many more writers” and “more foreign authors than last year,” said the president of APEL, who has noticed an increase in “writers who say ‘I want to be’ at the fair.” rather than just waiting for invitations.
Therefore, Pedro Sobral hopes that contacts with writers will increase this year, and the number of visitors, which in 2022 was between 770,000 and 790,000, will increase.
This expectation is directly related to the growth of the book market, which has been observed since 2021 and amounted to 12% at the end of the first quarter of this year.
“In addition to recovery [pós-pandemia], there is a change in reading habits. Portugal is one of the worst reading countries, but there is a growing interest in buying books for personal reading, when traditionally most books are bought as gifts, the official said.
Pedro Sobral added that there is “a movement of new readers between the ages of 18 and 30, which is actively used by social networks.”
“Hora H” remains, but the opening hours of the fair will change slightly: instead of 00:00, it will close at 22:00 on weekdays and at 23:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and on the eve of holidays.
On weekends, the fair opens at 11:00, and on weekdays the fair opens at 12:30.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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