Madrid Book Fair 2022 kicks off with high sales and public expectations

The 81st Madrid Book Fair will be held without capacity limits or space restrictions, with more than 300 events and around 5,000 signing sessions.

The 81st Madrid Book Fair kicks off this Friday, May 27, with great expectations of sales success and of recovering the number of visitors of previous editions, held without capacity limits or space restrictions. Visitors will be able to enjoy a cultural program with more than 300 events and meet their favorite authors. More than 5,000 signing sessions are planned.

This edition, in addition to being the largest of the 21st century, is expected to surpass the number of visitors registered so far. In 2019, it exceeded two million people who for 17 days strolled among books in El Retiro Park.

As in previous years, the Madrid Book Fair will be inaugurated with the visit of Her Majesty the Queen, who will tour the booths distributed along the Paseo de Coches, accompanied by Eva Orúe, director of the fair. After the traditional greeting to the representation of the different institutions that will be present, her itinerary will include a visit to different exhibitors, including small bookstores and independent publishers.

Also welcoming the fair at the opening ceremony will be the Minister of Education, Pilar Alegría; the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida; the Regional Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Sports of the Community of Madrid, Marta Rivera de la Cruz; the president of the Book Fair, Enrique Pascual; the deputy mayor of Madrid, Begoña Villacís; and the delegate of the Government of Culture, Tourism, and Sports, Andrea Levy, among other authorities.

Also present will be the various official sponsors, as well as the Representation in Spain of the European Commission, which is participating in the 81st Madrid Book Fair with its pavilion.

Inaugural meeting

In the afternoon, the fair will inaugurate its program at 19:00 in the CaixaBank Cultural Activities Pavilion, with a meeting whose background will be the journey -the central theme of the 81st edition-, which will bring together three authors who have traveled the world (Gabi Martínez), have been trans-terrestrial (Karina Sainz Borgo) and have taken words from one language to another (Nuria Barrios).

On the evening of May 27, Casa Árabe also premieres its program at 9:30 p.m., with the celebration of ‘The Thousand and One Night of the Book Fair at Casa Árabe’. Once the booths are closed, a parade of Moroccan Gnawa music will depart from the Balqís Bookstore (booth 83) to guide visitors to the institution’s garden, located at the confluence of Alcalá and O’Donnell streets.

After the parade, there will be time for oral storytelling by Héctor Urién, who will narrate a piece inspired by The Thousand and One Nights. The performance of the storyteller from Madrid will be followed by a concert of Arab music by Guacamayo Tropical.

Signature sessions

The list of authors who will meet their readers at El Retiro on May 27 includes Theodor Kallifatides, Santiago Posteguillo, Fernando Aramburu, José María Merino, Juan Tallón, María Oruña, Marta Sanz, Rosa Montero, Lorenzo Silva and Noemí Trujillo, among others.