Lisbon Book Fair Faces Space Limitations, But Anticipates Increased Author Participation and Growing Book Market

However, in the interim, the pavilions had modifications, and the accessibility will also undergo upgrades to address certain issues that persons with limited mobility face.

on May 15, 2023

Lisbon Book Fair Faces Space Limitations, But Anticipates Increased Author Participation and Growing Book Market

Despite requests for more pavilions, the 93rd edition of the fair, which runs from May 25 to June 11 this year, has been prevented from "growing," according to Pedro Sobral, president of the Portuguese Editors and Bookkeepers Association (APEL).

The LBF will have the same 340 pavilions as in 2022, 139 participants, and more than 980 editors' seals this year.

The World Youth Day preparations are now being debated between the Lisbon Council, the Portuguese Editors and Bookkeepers Association, and the World Youth Day organizers, causing this space limitation. World Youth Day is slated to take place at the beginning of August.

Once the date was chosen, it was necessary to research "how to maintain the whole structure" and "how to dismount it," Sobral said, guaranteeing the parties involved "have been coordinated for a long time." "We've been working with the Lisbon council since very early on to figure out when we could put on this fair," he added. "The LBF did have to stay at 340 because of logistics," Sobral said, citing how from an estimate of 379 pavillions, "The LBF did have to grow, despite us always having more requests from editors and bookkeepers."

It was "sufficiently early to understand that they'd keep us at last year's size," he continued, and "the information arrived in time for us not to invest in new equipment."

However, in the interim, the pavilions had modifications, and the accessibility will also undergo upgrades to address certain issues that persons with limited mobility face.

The "H Hour" remains the same, but the fair's schedule has been somewhat changed; rather than shutting at midnight, it will now do so at 10 p.m. on weekdays and at 11 p.m. on weekends and the eves of bank holidays.

According to Pedro Sobral, who has observed a rise in "the proactivity of writers, they say they want to be at the fair," instead of only waiting for an invitation, "many more writers" and "more international authors than last year" are expected for this edition. He thinks this will lead to more interaction between writers and the audience, which in 2022 consisted of 770–790 thousand people.

This estimate is closely related to the book market's rise, which has been noted since 2021 and was at 12% in the first quarter of this year.

Beyond the recovery from the epidemic, reading habits have changed. Portugal has one of the lowest reading rates in the world, although there is rising interest in buying books for one's reading needs. Traditionally, most books were purchased as presents. According to Sobral, there is a "movement of new readers, between 18 and 30 years old, spearheaded by social media." There had previously been "whole groups of youngsters who knew what they wanted and sought certain books, many of which were in English and Portuguese.

Many organizations from other nations are quite curious about how a nation with such low reading indices can continue to host an event like this on steep terrain in erratic weather, drawing such a large crowd.

In a statement made on behalf of Lisbon's mayor, Carlos Moedas, the city's director of culture, Laurentina Pereira, emphasized that the Lisbon Book Fair will open the city's festivals and emphasized that it is one of the "biggest events in the city with one of the biggest public, be it June or September, come rain or shine."