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In a protocol act, and with the presence of writers, editors, booksellers and personalities of the literary and cultural field, the twenty -fifth edition of Filgua was launched.
In 2025 Filgua will be 25 years after taking the world of reading in Guatemala. (PHOTO FREE PRESS: PL hemeroteca)
Less than a month after International Book Fair in Guatemala (Filgua), which is scheduled from July 1 to 13, the event was launched in a protocol act, in which various personalities participated, in the auditorium of the Cultural Center of Spain.
The writer Arturo Arias made a reflection on the value of reading in Guatemala. With books we access cultures, thoughts and expand our worldview. The books are windows to other times and cultures, with them we discover magic, fantasy and we found meaning to life, he said in his speech.
Arias commented on how difficult it was to get books and how reading was limited by repression. After the signing of La Paz, this was changing, he said, and highlighted the arrival of Filgua and how it has remained opening important spaces for the culture of Guatemala.
Diana López, director of the Guatemala Editors Association (AGEG), for her part, stressed that for 25 years of Filgua multiple stories have emerged. “We have grown in many aspects and there will be 13 days with an extensive agenda,” he said. Fair tickets can be acquired online and will have a price of Q5, the details will soon be given for the process.
For her part, the Spanish ambassador to Guatemala, María Clara Girbau Ronda, thanked being as a guest country in this edition. Girbau Ronda presented the program that they will have within the fair with more than 50 activities to interact among the attendees, “for Spain reading is an act of pleasure and an exercise of freedom of expression,” he said.
The Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports, Luis Rodrigo Carrillo, commented that students still use photocopies and are a call of the need for cheaper versions to read.
Filgua Curiosities 2025
- This edition will be dedicated to the work of Marta Elena Casaús Arzú, Sociologist and Guatemalan-Spanish researcher, and the guest country will be Spain.
- 20 thousand books on myths and legends of the world will be distributed, which will be delivered to public school students. More than 500 activities are scheduled.
- The International Library Conference, the IX National Public Library Contest and the XV Interest Reading Contest will be presented. The agenda will be divided into activities for the whole family, as well as others focused on the school environment, with emphasis on Guatemalan literature.
- Among the prominent authors will be the psychologist and writer Walter Riso, and Andrés Panasiuk, writer and founder of the Institute for Financial Culture, just to mention some of the special guests.