/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/BOOKS-ARGENTINA: Fair Struggles to Survive amidst National Crisis

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 23 2002 (IPS) - The economic crisis in Argentina has meant a reduced Buenos Aires Book Fair this year, with fewer bookshops, publishers, distributors, writers and buyers making an appearance. The prices are the only things that have increased.

The Book Fair, an annual tradition since 1975, began in mid-April after surmounting the numerous difficulties arising in a country suffering economic, political and social crisis.

Fair director Marta Díaz told IPS that she is confident this “austere” version of the fair will serve as “a breath of fresh air for the Argentine people amidst a deep depression.”

The annual event, which lasts several weeks, generally draws more than a million visitors, many of whom say they buy all the books they will read over the next year there, and not at the bookshops.

More than a thousand exhibitors are taking part and there is a broad range of accompanying activities, including workshops, panel discussions, seminars, concerts and presentations of new books.

The only year before this in which the number of visitors saw a dramatic decline was 1982. The Book Fair began that year just as Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-1983) invaded the Malvinas/Falklands Islands, dragging the country into a futile two-month war against Britain.

The theme of the fair this year is “City of Books”, but there is also a parallel exposition of 1,300 booths highlighting “education in a complex context”, with experts focusing on promotion of the reading habit, the role of television in learning, and science education.

Some of the foreign guests in this year’s edition of the fair are U.S. author Paul Auster, Mexico’s Carlos Monsivais, Chile’s Marcela Serrano and Wei Hui, of China, as well as Spanish singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat.

Díaz said that the travel and hotel expenses, and in some cases the honoraria, meant a 40-percent reduction in the list of international guests.

But for some observers, this money-saving necessity has paved the way for appreciating what Argentina itself has to offer.

In fact, a new pavillion at the fair is dedicated to promoting Argentine literature. There are more than a few young authors, as well as some of the not-so-young, who grew up in the shadow of Argentina’s major writers like Jorge Luis Borges, Ernesto Sábato, and Adolfo Bioy Casares, and were unable to achieve recognition alongside the greats.

Such is the case of journalist-authors Tomás Eloy Martínez and María Elena Walsh, who are presenting their new titles at the fair. Martínez, author of “Santa Evita”, the best-selling novel here by an Argentine author ever, will release “El vuelo de la reina” (Flight of the Queen). Walsh is launching a new book for children, “Hotel Pioho’s Palace”.

The budget of this year’s Book Fair is 25 percent less than it was in 2001. The organisers had to get around the freeze on major bank transactions that the government imposed in December. They were finally able to recover their funds, but with a large bite taken out.

“We had 400,000 dollars deposited, money from the registration fees of publishers, bookshops and other exhibitors. We were able to convert it to pesos at a rate of 1.4 when the devaluation was already much greater than that,” said Díaz, commenting that the behind-the-scenes dealings to get this year’s fair of the ground were “terrible”.

And with the economic crisis, the event’s organisers have been unable to obtain subsidies to cover expenses, so this year must charge admission. The price is minimal – less than a dollar – but represents another obstacle for the public, hard hit by four years of deep recession, high unemployment and shrinking wages.

The higher book prices and admission fee will likely conspire to keep the visitor total realtively low this year. The booksellers and publishers further say that, in times of crisis, fewer people take the time to read.

Sales at Buenos Aires bookshops have plummeted 50 percent since January due to the sharp decline in consumers’ purchasing power.

Even before that, in 2000-2001, 250 bookshops in the capital shut their doors due to lower sales. The trend only accelerated in January 2002.

And books imported in dolalrs are now unaccessible, price-wise, because the Argentine peso has depreciated more than 130 percent since the beginning of the year.

However, the prices of books published in Argentina, with high prices in pesos, but low in dollar terms – in some cases half or less – serve as an additional attraction for visitors from neighbouring countries Chile and Uruguay.

“The economic crisis will surely hurt sales, though there are many buyers at the fair who, according to surveys, say they never buy from bookshops,” said Book Fair director Díaz.

In any case, the exhibitors have included numerous special offers, taking into account the near-empty pockets of the Argentine consumers, she added.