Germany to Be Guest Country of Santa Cruz Book Fair

La Paz, May 9 (Prensa Latina) Germany will be the guest country of the 18th International Book Fair (FIL) of Santa Cruz, which will take place from May 31 to June 11 in that eastern Bolivian city, organizers informed.

During the literary event, considered Bolivia's most important, Goethe Zentrum Institute will receive the annual prize of the Departmental Book Chamber for the work done for almost two decades in Santa Cruz.

'We are committed to making the artistic expressions of Germany visible and strengthening cultural exchange with Bolivia,' said the director of the center, Franz-Josef Kunz.

Spanish Almudena Grandes and Luis García Montero and German Gisbert Haefs are among the authors invited to the book fair.

Haefs is a writer of detective and historical novels and has translated the works of great Latin American writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and Adolph Bioy Casares.

In this edition, the International Narrative Writers Meeting will be held, featuring the participation of Bolivian authors such as Magela Baudoin, Giovanna Rivero, Edmundo Paz, Saul Montaño and Sebastián Antezana, among others.

According to the general manager of the Santa Cruz Book Chamber, Melissa Pereyra, the participation of about 100 thousand people in the literary event is expected.

In addition, organizers will summon 700 schools to schedule free visits to the IBF, which has also room for young people and children literature.