The New York City International Book Fair (FILNYC) will celebrate its fifth edition from September 21 to 24, 2023. Organized by the Mexican Studies Institute of New York (MSI), the mission of FILNYC is to position through literature and culture the Spanish language in the United States, creating a space for convergence among book professionals: writers, editors, librarians, and their audiences.
The FILNYC format, 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. Likewise, aware of the need to rescue our history as a region and with a view to promoting critical thinking in Spanish-speaking communities, the event focuses on decisive historical events for 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, the FIL City of New York aims to provide the Spanish-speaking public with a space for 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 City of New York then seeks to transcend, not only the borders of the language, but of the literary experience itself.
After a crowded and successful return to the face-to-face format in 2022, the cultural offer of the fifth edition of the FIL City of New York will have the presence of renowned personalities, such as the Mexican writers Cristina Rivera Garza and Socorro Venegas; the 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 in 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 Writers, are fundamental pieces in the realization of this event.
Dejanira Álvarez Cárdenas, general coordinator of the New York City FIL added that “literature in Spanish in the United States is experiencing a momentum in its history, and since our first edition in 2019, FIL City of New York has witnessed it. That is why for our 2023 edition, topics 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. On the latter, the New York City FIL will have a new section called “critical thinking”, whose objective is to bring together, in the same space, the voices and thinkers of our language who, from a philosophical perspective, will discuss issues of an , seemingly everyday, that involves all of us Spanish-speakers who live in the United States.
For the fifth edition of FIL City of New York, we designed a program that showcases various literary and gender aesthetics, among which the presence of emerging pens stands out, as well as the usual night of poetry and spaces dedicated to investigative journalism and evolution of audio that, as a narrative format, is an ally for orality and memory. We will also have the presence of new proposals for Puerto Rican literature and special attention will be paid to the fiftieth anniversary of one of the most defining political events in the history of Chile, as was the coup of 1973.
As of this year and with the title of Guest Editorial, FIL City of New York will recognize the effort, work and dedication of publishers that, inside and outside the United States, continue to bet on letters in Spanish. In this sense, we are pleased to announce Vaso Roto, a publishing house founded in 2005 by the poet, translator and editor Jeannette Clariond, which in addition to specializing in publishing poetry in Spanish, has a wide catalog of reissues and new translations of poets Spanish-speaking narrators and essayists.
We are very motivated by the response from writers and publishers, as well as the expressions of support and trust from those who have joined this project, so necessary for those of us who make our lives in Spanish, the second most spoken language in the United States.
Such is the case of the Fira del Libre de València, Spain, organized by the city’s booksellers and the second oldest in the country, which for its 58th edition summoned the FIL City of New York as guest of honor, in whose The representation will be attended by Mayte López and Yuri Herrera, both authors who, from the United States, write and publish in Spanish, and their texts are also translated into other languages. With them will attend José Higuera Lópéz, director of the FIL City of New York and Dejanira Álvarez Cárdenas, general coordinator.
The FIL City of New York is a celebration of the written word in our language and the complete program of the 2023 edition will be available to the public before the event.
All FIL New York City events are public and free.
Text and photography: PHIL NEW YORK CITY
