The Guadalajara international book fair, or FIL as it’s better known, is a huge and hectic event: think the London book fair meets an Amazon warehouse, with thousands of schoolchildren thrown into the mix. Now in its 29th year, FIL is the most important book fair in the Spanish-speaking world, and the second largest anywhere – on two counts: number of publishers, after Frankfurt; and number of visitors, after Buenos Aires.
This year, the UK was the guest of honour, a reciprocal gesture after Mexico was Market Focus at the London book fair in April. In Guadalajara, the British Council endeavoured to make the UK delegation fully representative of the UK and its cultural diversity, delivering 30 writers spanning all regions, backgrounds and genres including Salman Rushdie, Philippa Gregory, Irvine Welsh, Owen Jones, Joanne Harris and Jeanette Winterson.
The programme was an undoubted triumph, creating a buzz and a sense of prestige. Salman Rushdie, making his second appearance at FIL – he previously attended in 1995 - opened the festival with a keynote speech that was enthusiastically received. Irvine Welsh was the literary rock star: his events were standing-room only and he was mobbed by readers wherever he went.
While FIL booksellers sold a storm of Rushdie and Winterson, the bestsellers were still JK Rowling and Ken Follett, neither of whom were there in person. But there was a general willingness to see the lesser-known authors among the crowds: Reading in the Digital Age drew a strong crowd, the majority of whom knew little of panellists Jon Ronson, Owen Jones and Sunjeev Sahota. Likewise with young folk – and it is worth emphasising what a youthful audience FIL attracts – queued around the block for The Psychological Thriller, though most of the people I spoke to confessed they’d never heard of Louise Welsh or Philip Kerr. Children’s author Kevin Brooks had a following, but there was still some confusion: I was asked to autograph a number of his books, for wearing a cap similar to the one in his author photo.
To mark Mexico’s appearance in London back in April, Mexican essayist Enrique Krauze wrote about the Mexico portrayed by British writers of old: DH Lawrence, Graham Greene and Rebecca West. Writing more recently about Guadalajara, Rafael Vargas noted in Nexos magazine that Shakespeare referenced Mexico twice in The Merchant of Venice. But what of British writers writing about Mexico today? Krauze observed that British writers of the past tended to focus either on the light or dark side of Mexico; Vargas says these days it is exclusively the dark side. Looking at recent publications, it does look like the only English writing on Mexico, or Mexican writing translated into English, revolves exclusively around narco-trafficking and violence.
It’s true that very few Mexican novels make it into English, but that can be said of any country in the world. But British writers would do well to seek out the light: Mexico has much beauty to behold. There is some way to go before the complexities of Mexico and the UK are understood by each side – but this year’s FIL felt like a demonstration of genuine good will. Over the week or so at Guadalajara, the UK pavilion’s walkway frequently had to close for sound and safety reasons, due to the sheer weight of numbers and interest in what was on show – a literal bridge of understanding. With FIL finished for 2015, it is now up to readers and writers to keep crossing it, and for institutions to ensure the bridge gets proper support.
