The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) and CAF—Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean—are promoting the “Ibero-America, an Open Book” series for the second consecutive year at the Madrid Book Fair. This strategic alliance aims to place books, reading, and writing at the heart of the Ibero-American cultural agenda and, specifically, at this important annual event held in the Spanish capital.
This second edition of the series—which will take place from May 29 to June 14 in the Ibero-American Pavilion—begins with a central question: What does reading mean in Ibero-America today? It understands reading as a way of inhabiting public space, producing knowledge, activating memories, and exploring new ways of relating to culture.
Thus, the initiative is part of a sustained commitment by both institutions to strengthen the book ecosystem in the region, finding one of its most important manifestations in this large and prestigious Madrid event.
Among the program’s highlights are the presentation of the Regional Study of Public Policies and National Plans for Reading, Writing, Orality, and Books in Ibero-America, next Saturday, May 30, at 6:30 p.m., coinciding with the start of the series, and “Reading in Motion,” one of the OEI’s most successful initiatives for promoting reading in unconventional spaces, which returns with several performative tours of the fairgrounds on May 30 and June 6 and 13. Based on the trilogy hARTas / Muy hARTas / SuperhARTas, this year’s program invites participants to rethink art history from a critical, collective, and accessible perspective, combining literature, the body, and public space.
Also noteworthy is the discussion “Humor, Caricature, and Women Erased from the Artistic Canon,” which will bring together researchers, popularizers, and creators on Sunday, May 31, at 6:00 p.m. to reflect on the processes of exclusion in cultural history and the need to build more inclusive narratives from different disciplines.
Another key event will be the meeting “Cultural Rights: How to Strengthen the Publishing Sector Based on the Rights of Creators,” which will be held on Monday, June 8, at 8:00 p.m. This meeting will focus on analyzing how improving working conditions in the cultural sector can contribute to the sustainable development of the publishing industry in Latin America.
The program also includes workshops, roundtables, and activities aimed at children and young people, as well as spaces for reflection on public reading policies, cultural identities, diasporas, and the role of humor in literature. With the launch of this program, the OEI and CAF aim to help consolidate the Madrid Book Fair as a prime platform for showcasing the cultural and literary richness of the Ibero-American region, in a city where one in four inhabitants is of Ibero-American descent or has Ibero-American ancestry, and which boasts a growing and dynamic population with roots across the Atlantic.