The cultural offerings of the fifth edition of FIL New York City will include the presence of renowned personalities.

The International Book Fair of New York City (FILNYC) will celebrate its fifth edition from September 21 to 24, 2023. Organized by the Mexican Studies Institute of New York (MSI), FIL New York City’s mission is to position the Spanish language in the United States through literature and culture, creating a space for convergence among book professionals: writers, publishers, librarians, and their audiences.

The format of FILNYC, plural, dynamic and inclusive, allows both speakers and the audience to travel through the variety of nationalities, accents, and aesthetics of the most recent titles in literature, for adults and children, poetry and journalism written in Spanish. Also, aware of the need to rescue our history as a region and to foster critical thinking in Spanish-speaking communities, the event focuses on key historical events in Latin America and the dissemination of literary works in native languages.

Dr. José Higuera López, director of FIL New York City and associate director of the Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY states that:

«For the fifth consecutive year and considered one of the most important cultural events in Spanish in the United States, FIL New York City aims to provide the Spanish-speaking public with a space of convergence in which literature, poetry, journalism, and other manifestations of the written word, more than artistic and intellectual aesthetics, are also mirrors of society, whose reflections are evident in the plurality of our audiences and reading communities, as well as in the themes of our conversations, inspired by those who feel, live and read in Spanish in the United States. FIL seeks to transcend not only the borders of language but the literary experience itself.

After a busy and successful return to the in-person format in 2022, the cultural offerings of the fifth edition of FIL New York City will include the presence of renowned personalities, such as Mexican writers Cristina Rivera Garza and Socorro Venegas; Peruvian writer Gabriela Weiner, as well as cultural promoters and sister institutions, whose presence makes this event possible: New York University (NYU), Columbia University, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), City College Downtown, the New York Public Library, NYU Creative Writing in Spanish (CWS), NYU King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (KJCC), the Instituto Cervantes of New York, the Spanish Government together with the Valencia Book Fair, the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE), Sundial House and Let’s Talk Women Writers, are fundamental pieces in the realization of this event.

Dejanira Álvarez Cárdenas, general coordinator of FIL New York City added that «Spanish-language literature in the United States is experiencing a momentum in its history, and since our first edition in 2019, FIL New York City has witnessed this. That is why for our 2023 edition, themes such as language and its relationship with identity and memory; oral and written memories, and critical thinking, will be the guiding threads of this event that celebrates the written word in our language.»

Since our first edition in 2019, the event has been organized around four thematic axes: literary, bibliodiverse, humanist, and academic. Regarding the latter, FIL New York City will have a new section called «critical thinking», which aims to bring together, in the same space, the voices and thinkers of our language who, from a philosophical point of view, will discuss issues of a seemingly everyday nature that involve all Spanish speakers who live in the United States.

For the fifth edition of FIL New York City, we have designed a program that showcases diverse literary aesthetics and genres, including the presence of emerging writers, as well as the usual poetry night and spaces dedicated to investigative journalism and the evolution of audio, which, as a narrative format, is an ally for orality and memory. We will also have the presence of new proposals of Puerto Rican literature, and special attention will be given to the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most defining political events in Chilean history, the 1973 coup d’état.

Beginning this year and with the title of Guest Publisher, FIL New York City will recognize the effort, work, and dedication of publishers who, inside and outside the United States, continue to support Spanish-language literature. In this regard, we are pleased to announce Vaso Roto, a publishing house founded in 2005 by poet, translator, and editor Jeannette Clariond, which in addition to specializing in the publication of poetry in Spanish, has an extensive catalog of reprints and new translations of Spanish-language poets, narrators, and essayists.

We are very motivated by the response from writers and publishers, as well as by the support and confidence of those who have joined this project, so necessary for those of us who make a living in Spanish, the second most spoken language in the United States.

Such is the case of Fira del Llibre de València, Spain, organized by the booksellers of the city and the second oldest in the country, which for its 58th edition invited FIL New York City as a guest of honor, in whose representation Mayte López and Yuri Herrera will attend, both authors who, from the United States, write and publish in Spanish, their texts also being translated into other languages. They will be joined by José Higuera Lópéz, director of FIL New York City, and Dejanira Álvarez Cárdenas, general coordinator.

FIL New York City is a celebration of the written word in our language and the full program for the 2023 edition will be available to the public prior to the event.

All FIL New York City events are public and free of charge.

Text and photo: FIL NEW YORK CITY