The University of Guadalajara, through a project created by the Environmental Sciences Museum as part of the University’s Cultural Center, and with the support of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, has established the José Emilio Pacheco City and Nature Award. The prize, which will be given for the first time this year, will be dedicated to poetry. The winning author, who must write in Spanish and have at least ten unpublished poems or poems published in the last five years that are related to nature, urban sustainability, socio-ecological harmony and environmental conservation, will be given a purse of US $10,000. The award is dedicated to poet José Emilio Pacheco, whose work explores the duality between cities and nature.
Important:
The call closed the past June 2nd
Created by the University of Guadalajara, and with the collaboration of the National Institute for Indigenous Languages, the Culture Ministry, the National Commission for the Development of the Indigenous Cultures and Jalisco’s Department of Education, the American Indigenous Literature Award is granted to enrich, protect and promote the legacy and richness of Mexico’s indigenous peoples through literature in all its forms, and to and acknowledge and further develop the careers and works of indigenous authors. The award, which carries a purse of US $25,000, will be given for the fourth time at the 2016 FIL Guadalajara.
The SM Ibero-American Award for Literature for Children and Young People was implemented in 2005, the year of Ibero-American literature, with the goal of promoting literature for children and young people throughout Ibero-America. The award is given out each year during the Guadalajara International Book Fair to recognize writers of literature for children and young people and carries a purse of US $30,000.
With the goal of creating a network that helps to encourage the work of illustrators of books for children and young people in Ibero-America, the SM Foundation and the FIL Guadalajara invites illustrators to submit their work to be included in the Annual Ibero-American Illustration Catalog. The 45 works selected will be displayed in an exposition at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. In addition, illustrators will have the opportunity to work on an illustrated book with Ediciones SM and the winner will be given US $5,000. You can find more information at: www.iberoamericailustra.com
Barcelona
Barcelona, guest of honour at the Guadalajara International Book Fair 2025
Vindran les flors/Vendrán las flores (The flowers will come)
Barcelona will be visiting Guadalajara, Mexico, laden with flowers: our slogan, “The flowers will come”, is a phrase taken from a story written by our best loved and most universal writer, Mercè Rodoreda. Flowers for our hosts, flowers as a link to Guadalajara – “The City of Roses”, and also the symbol of our Sant Jordi, which we celebrate each year on 23 April when our city is filled with books and roses. The flowers will come because we talk about books as living things. Because literature in Barcelona blossoms each day, and never stops. It is constantly being renewed, just like Barcelona’s relationship with literature over the years. Also the years of exile, during which Mexico became a land of refuge, or the boom years, when Barcelona was filled with Latin American literature.
Barcelona will be visiting Guadalajara with lots of stories to tell. Some belong to the past, and we like to look back, but most are set here in the present, telling the story of the literary Barcelona of 2025. We want to take people on a journey to present-day Barcelona, which includes acclaimed authors with distinguished careers, but we also look forward to introducing the readers of Mexico to new voices. We will be visiting with writers from various generations, whose writing covers all kinds of genres, from novels to essays, stories and poetry and who write, above all, in Spanish and in Catalan, albeit not only in these languages. Of course, we want to take up the legacy of the boom years and recognise so many Latin American authors who have made Barcelona their home. We hope that our present awakens the curiosity of audiences at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), to whom we also want to tell the story of our past: every day in our pavilion we will be paying homage to a key figure from the city’s literary history who is no longer with us.
What city will be visiting the FIL?
Barcelona is an editorial capital for works published in Catalan and Spanish, an indisputable benchmark for the Latin American market. We celebrate books every day through a unique network of libraries and book stores, an integral part of Barcelona’s cultural fabric. Barcelona is home to the biggest publishing groups, and is an ever-growing source of independent publishers, large and small. Literary agencies, printers, distributors... The book sector plays a very important role in the city. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation designated Barcelona a UNESCO City of Literature in 2015, and it seems like a happy coincidence that we are renewing our vocation, a decade on, by participating in the FIL.
For the city, the FIL is a unique opportunity to tell its story beyond books. For example, in the scientific field: Barcelona is the number one city in Spain and the fourth in the European Union for scientific production, as indicated by various international classifications, such as the annual index published by the magazine Nature. Its positioning is the result of excellence, innovation and its research impact, generated thanks to its world-class scientific sector, of which citizens also form a part. An example of this is the City and Science Biennial, which has now become a leading event in this field. We’re very keen to introduce some of the representatives from this area in FIL Science and we will also be happy to be taking part in FIL Thought with another successful experience: the Biennial of Thought, which every two years welcomes renowned philosophers, thinkers and writers of international prestige, from home and abroad. Barcelona is also a leading city for cutting-edge design, and this is reflected in various aspects of our participation from the pavilion to the exhibitions, which will feature recent digital art experiences. Each day, we will be bringing music and performing arts to the FIL, with performers and shows that are well established also in Mexico, and others yet to be discovered. In Catalonia, we have our own film academy, and Catalan productions travel all over the world: they will also visit Guadalajara. Each one of the FIL sections is, for us, a piece of a giant puzzle that when put together reveals the image of the Barcelona of 2025: creative, innovative, vibrant and welcoming. And very literary, of course. A Barcelona that is happy and grateful to be travelling to Guadalajara, laden with flowers.