por TIFFANY ABISH
THE BAJA POST/STAFF
Nearly 180 thousand visitors to the International Book Fair of the Autonomous University of Baja California (FIL-UABC) was described as a great success by Rector Luis Enrique Palafox Maestre, who stressed the importance of this event, which for the first time in its quarter century of existence, was held in four simultaneous venues.
The plans for the FIL.UABC to grow in length and size in 2025 are open, since in this edition, for the first time it was held in Tecate, Tijuana and Ensenada in addition to Mexicali, the risk taken was enormous but a great work team managed to make the event a success in attendance in Mexicali, as usual, but also in the other three venues.
A great surprise for Palafox Maestre is the great participation of children and young people, that books have not been totally displaced by tablets and cell phones, that they have shown great interest in presentations, workshops and exhibiting publishers in this FIL-UABC, which in this edition, after 25 years, strengthens and positions it as one of the most important and visited events in Baja California.
Something that Palafox Maestre wanted to emphasize was the overwhelming success of BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK, a great idea that consisted of buying a book wrapped up, without knowing what it was about, by simply telling the seller or book manager what subject or genre the buyer wanted, to at least have an idea of the kind of book he was looking for.
They would give him a book of the type or genre he was looking for, obviously without knowing what it was, until the 70 pesos were paid for the book (they all cost the same) and when they unwrapped it they would find a novel title, realistic, detective, romantic, science fiction, poetry, essay, etcetera, an idea that came from Mexico City and had great success and acceptance.
The organization, in charge of UABC staff and students, was first class and the fluidity of the presentations, the workshops of various types, highlighting those aimed at children and seniors, were very well attended and captured the attention of these two demographic sectors with great success.
The official closing was in charge of Palafox Maestre and the final conference of Paco Ignacio Taibo II was a bit brief but very intense and interesting in which the veteran writer, who was a militant in the movements of 68 and 71, whose biography of Che Guevara is one of the most widely read and who is approaching 80 years of age and 80 books written (maybe more) delighted with his discursive prose to an almost full Teatro Universitario to end with the last event of a Fair that will return in 2025, that many are already waiting for and in which the organizers are already working from today.
