Brazilian President Lula Inaugurates 2024 Bogota International Book Fair

Brazilian President Lula will inaugurate the 2024 Bogota International Book Fair as part of his four-day official visit to Colombia. This year, Colombia’s largest book fair honors Brazil, officially declaring it the Guest Nation of the event, presenting the opportunity to honor great authors of Brazilian literature. The 36th Bogota International Book Fair will begin on Wednesday, April 17, and conclude on Thursday, May 2.

During these 15 days, the Book Fair will gather over 500 Colombian and international guests, including 120 authors. This year’s theme is ‘Read Nature’ (Lee la Naturaleza), a tribute to nature and alternative lifestyles that encourage reflection on the relationships between humans and their environment and how to live in harmony with nature, whether it involves plants, animals, or even minerals.

The Bogota International Book Fair

Created in 1988, the Bogota International Book Fair rapidly grew to the second-largest book fair in Latin America, surpassed only by the Guadalajara Book Fair in Mexico. Globally renowned, the event is very popular in Colombia and attracted over 600,000 visitors during last year’s event and reached an estimated US$4.68 million in book sales.

Every year, the Book Fair features an honor guest, generally a country, which promotes its literature. Last year, Mexico was the Guest Nation, and 34 countries have participated in the event since its creation, including major literary nations like France, the United States, Italy, Japan, Spain, Portugal, and Argentina.

This year, Brazil has a dedicated 3,000 square-meter pavilion which will honor the Amazon forest, a natural heritage shared with Colombia. Major guests include Spanish writer Rosa Montero, Japanese author Satoshi Kitamura, and the awarded Argentine novelist Eduardo Sacheri.

The Bogota International Book Fair will open tomorrow, Wednesday, April 17, from 12 pm to 7 pm. Subsequently, the official hours are from 10 am to 7 pm every day, except on Fridays and Saturdays when it closes at 8 pm. The event is very accessible, with attractive prices: about US$3 (12,000 COP) for those over 13 years old, and approximately US$2.4 (9,500 COP) for children aged between 6 and 12 years old. Entry is free for children under 6 years old.

Lula and Colombia

Lula’s visit and his participation in the inauguration of the book fair seem to mark a warming of diplomatic relations between Brazil and Colombia. Since the visit of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to Cartagena de Indias in April 2012 as part of the 6th Summit of the Americas, no Brazilian head of state has visited Colombia.

Lula first made an official visit to Colombia during his first term, in December 2005. Shortly after his recent presidential inauguration in January 2023, the Brazilian president went to Colombia to attend the Amazon Technical-Scientific Meeting in July, where he was able to engage in discussions with President Petro. However, tomorrow’s visit by the Brazilian president marks his first official and bilateral visit of his current term, an event from which many insights are expected on the evolution of the Colombia-Brazil relationship.