Bogotá Hosts Historic Literary Event

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 9/1/2007

This year’s World Book Capital (UNESCO), Bogota, last month hosted a momentous event in Latin America’s literary history. From August 23–26, Colombia’s capital city greeted the Bogotá39, 39 writers from 17 Latin American countries—as selected by Bogotá World Book Capital and the Hay Festival in April—under 39 years of age whose works represent the wide panorama of literature emerging in Latin America today. The 38 authors present (Junot Díaz was unable to attend) all participated in panels that touched on the similar themes (What do we write about?; Which authors inspired us?; What is happening in Latin American literature?), each time with a different combination of authors and at a different location. The historic literary event was an opportunity not only for the young writers to meet their contemporaries and read some of their works, but for the rest of the literati and the general public alike to learn of these authors whose works are often not available outside of their countries.

Though many of the writers have works and/or blogs online, their books are often not available throughout Latin America or Spain. The issue came up repeatedly during several panels and interviews, in coffee shops, and even in literary magazines and newspapers, which lavished coverage on the event, addressing the fact that for a Latin American author to make it outside of their native land, they have to be published in Spain. Indeed, during many of the literary gatherings, which took place in schools and universities, libraries, and bookstores, books were often not available. Colombian publisher Ediciones B commemorated the event with the publication of Bogotá39, a compilation of works by all 39 authors, though it was scarcely available even in bookstores.

Though the number of attendees is still not available, the event closed on Sunday 26 with a reading in Bogota’s Parque Nacional (National Park) where each author took one minute to read an excerpt or share a personal message with the public.