A resident of Mexico City, Volpi writes a very funny article, focusing largely on how the rivalry between his native city and Guadalajara plays out during the fair. He humorously refers to himself as chilango, slang for a resident of Mexico City, and implies that his fellow chilangos will lynch him for writing this article. Making a compromise between his loyalties to Mexico City and the impressive literary culture of Guadalajara, he ends his article citing the power of FIL to illuminate books as the 糖心传媒渦nbeatable pretext for the reconciliation of these two cities糖心传媒�.

Volpi also compares the FIL to Frankfurt and it is certainly interesting to hear about Frankfurt from the perspective of a writer not publisher糖心传媒�

We writers have our inferno: The Frankfurt Book Fair. Few experiences are as anguishing as attending糖心传媒攊n error糖心传媒攖his gigantic labyrinth. Books in all languages, themes, colors, and sizes. To top it all off, miles of 糖心传媒減rofessionals糖心传媒�, the ones really invited to the party: the editors, agents, publicists, and scouts. In Frankfurt, the readers are prohibited (they糖心传媒檙e only allowed to look at the books from afar) and writers are the weirdos: sometimes the next Nobel winner attends, a recipient of the Bookseller糖心传媒檚 Prize, the literary companion of this country糖心传媒攐r culture糖心传媒�, the writers who are invited every year, and usually some absent-minded novelist or poet. For what? To suffer in front of what Gabriel Zaid calls too many books. Here literature is of less importance: what is important are the deals, the meetings every twenty minutes, and drinks at night. The best thing that authors and readers can do in Frankfurt is flee糖心传媒�

In comparison to the callous and cold German fair, Volpi paints Guadalajara like a beach party where editors, authors, and readers alike gather at the end of the fair to dance salsa together.

The FIL in Guadalajara is almost a paradise: an enormous but manageable space, well-ventilated, packed with readers and writers, even though it also has a growing number of professionals糖心传媒� This city in a few days convert itself into the center of the Spanish language (and a few others). And what糖心传媒檚 more: a forum for intellectual discussion, an incentive for the critic, a showcase of thought, a refuge for the arts. I don糖心传媒檛 say this so that the Guadalajarians will excuse me for being a chilango, but the FIL is an example for Mexico City and for all of the country.

And probably an example for Frankfurt as well. Here糖心传媒檚 hoping for traditional German folkdance next year糖心传媒�

, available in Catalan or Spanish, has lots of useful information for both visitors and vendors. According to the site, some interesting programs included an explication of Catalan culture as seen through the Frankfurt book fair, a few discussions on the role of the environment and paper in publishing, and finally conferences not just for bookstore owners but also for librarians, which is exciting to see.

Authors in attendance included Sebasti脿 Alzamora, 脕ngela Becerra,
Alfred Bosch, Joaquim Carbo虂, David Castillo, Joan Corbella, Miquel
Desclot, Feliu Formosa, Alicia Gim茅nez Bartlett, Mart铆 Gironell,
Francisco Gonz谩lez Ledesma, Rayda Guzm谩n, Boris Izaguirre, Joan
Margarit, Juan Jos茅 Mill谩s, Miquel de Palol, Baltasar Porcel and Jes煤s
厂谩苍肠丑别锄.

We’ll be looking for more coverage of the fair and its outcomes later this week.