Although from 2021 both the Guadalajara International Book Fair and the Guadalajara International Book Fair will be held in Guadalajara. Hay Festival, Mexican edition, in the city of Querétaro, were held in hybrid format, with both virtual and face-to-face activities, this 2022 means the total return to the face-to-face format of most of the literary fairs and meetings held in Mexico, with the exception of the International Book Fair of the Palacio de Minería, which UNAM decided to make totally virtual.
But beyond the advantages offered by virtuality, such as being able to enjoy the presentations and conferences from almost anywhere in the world, the possibility of personal contact with the authors, and above all, with other readers, is unparalleled. The exchange of ideas and the critical thinking that animates these literary gatherings, as well as the boost (greater or lesser, depending on the size of the fair and its visitors) to the publishing industry through the sales of novelties or other titles by the invited writers, is indispensable.
We hope, if the COVID finally gives us a break -which it seems, from the data on the decrease of infections worldwide, that fortunately it will- that this year Mexican readers and readers from the East Coast of the United States will be able to meet again at the book fairs of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANLeer), on Hay Festival Querétaro, the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the Monterrey International Book Fair and the New York City International Book Fair, organized by the Mexican Studies Institute of Lehman College, which promotes literature in Spanish and this year 2022 has a new General Manager: Dejanira Álvarez, a cultural manager and reading promoter from Guadalajara, Jalisco.
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