Practices, Interactions and Rituals at International Book Fairs: A Socio-Anthropological Approach to the Ibero-American Book Market and its Actors

The "Book Fair"phenomenon, understood as an event, a meeting point and negotiation space, is shaped by the interactions among the actors of the book market: from publishers, distributors, literary agents or booksellers, to librarians, authors and also the members of cultural institutions. Their practices, performed in the context of book fairs, create several rituals. Indeed, in Constantino Bértolo´s words -the former literary director of the Caballo de Troya line at Penguin Random House-, the community of actors of the literary marketplace behaves like a "stamp collecting tribe" [tribu de filatélicos][1]: a powerful metaphor that not only suggest the death foretold of this community, but also -according to their numerous journeys, always going from book fair to book fair- its semi-nomadic character.

In light of such as ironic but relevant testimonies describing what publishing industry actually is, a socio-anthropological approach for studying Book Fairs phenomena and their actors remains crucial. Through fieldwork and qualitative interviews, this project seeks a detailed and intimate understanding of those practices within the Spanish Book Industry and in the context of the Ibero-American Book Market. Everything analysed, however, at International Book Fairs in the growth of the so-called Global Market.

Specific Objectives:

• Mapping the interactions between Spanish Book Markets and International Markets within Book Fairs.
• Understanding Book Fairs as field configuring events through rituals and practices.
• Understanding the role and goals of those actors of the publishing field through practices performed in Book Fairs.
• Understanding Media and Aesthetic strategies in relation to the (self) representations of those actors attending Book Fairs.
• Analysing political and cultural strategies of the members of the Official Institutions attached to the Spanish publishing field present in Book Fairs.
• Measuring the influence of the field of power within the publishing field.
• Measuring the influence of the cultural industries within Book Fairs.

[1]"Panorama de la industria editorial en España y Argentina" (LIBER, Madrid, 4.10.2017 (Min. 46:50)), available in the project archive at Europa-Universität Flensburg.

Selective Bibliography

• Bourdieu, Pierre (2012): Intelectuales, política y poder. Madrid: Clave intelectual.
• Bosshard, Marco Th; García Naharro, Fernando (Eds.) (2019): Las ferias del libro como espacios de negociación económica y cultural. Vol. 1: planteamientos generales y testimonios desde España, México y Alemania. Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert.  
• Cottenet, Cécile (2017): Literary Agents in the Transatlantic Book Trade: American Fiction, French Rights, and the Hoffman Agency. Loindon: Routledge.
• Darnton, Robert (1990): "What is the history of books?" In: The Kiss of Lamourette. Reflections in Cultural History. London & Boston: Faber & Faber, pp. 107-135.
• Dujovne, Alejandro; Sorá, Gustavo (2011): "Un hecho de política cultural: Argentina en la República mundial de la Edición". In: Magdalena Faillace (ed.) (2011): Feria del libro de Frankfurt. Argentina país invitado de honor 2010, Buenos Aires: MRE-CIC, pp. 188-202.
• Fischer, Ernst (ed.) (2001): Literarische Agenturen - die heimlichen Herrscher im Literaturbetrieb? Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
• Kölling, Angela (2014): "NZ@Frankfurt: Imagining New Zealand’s Guest of Honour Presentation at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair from the Point of View of Literary Translation". Imaginations 5:1, pp. 81-99.
• Lampel, Joseph; Meyer, Alan D. (2008): "Field-Configuring Events as Structuring Mechanisms: How Conferences, Ceremonies, and Trade Shows Constitute New Technologies, Industries, and Markets", Journal of Management Studies 45:6 September, pp. 1025-1035.
• Moeran, Brian (2010): "The Book Fair as a Tournament of Values", The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.138-154.
• Saferstein, Ezequiel Andrés (2013): "La Feria del Libro en Buenos Aires y la concentración del espacio editorial. Una aproximación a la sociedad del espectáculo en la circulación de libros", KAIROS, 17, 32, pp. 1-18.
• Squires, Claire (2007): Marketing Literature. The Making of Contemporary Writing in Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Thompson, John B. (2012): Merchants of Culture. The Publishing Business in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Polity.
• Woolard, Kathryn A. (2016): "Branding like a State: Establishing Catalan Singularity at the Frankfurt Book Fair", Signs and Society, vol. 4, no. S1, pp. 29-50.

Interviews

Frankfurt International Book Fair

• Interview with Carina Pons (Balcells Literary Agency) on 11^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Virginia López Ballesteros (Virginia López Ballesteros Literary Agency)  on 11^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Damián Tabarovsky (Mardulce Editora) on 11^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Matteo Anastasio and Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Silvia González and Julià Florit (Institut Ramon Llull) on 12^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Piluca Vega (Página Tres Literary Agency) on 12^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Antonia Kerrigan (Antonia Kerrigan Literary Agency) on 12^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Mônica R. Antunes (Sant Jordi Asociados Literary Agency) on 13^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Pau Centella (Silvia Bastos Literary Agency) on 13^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Juergen Boos (Director and CEO of Frankfurt Book Fair) on 2^nd July 2018 in Hamburg (Marco Bosshard, Luise Hertwig, Matteo Anastasio and Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Simone Bühler (Head of the Guest of Honour programme at the Frankfurt Book Fair) on 4^th July 2018 in Frankfurt (Luise Hertwig, Matteo Anastasio and Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Peter Weidhass (Former CEO of Frankfurt Book Fair) on 3^rd July 2018 in Mainz (Luise Hertwig, Matteo Anastasio and Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Michi Strausfeld (Editorial Suhrkamp, Editorial Siruela) on 12^th September 2018 in Berlin (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Andres Amorós (Curator of the Spanish exhibition in Frankfurt Book Fair 1991) on 20^th December 2018 in Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).

Liber International Book Fair

• Interview with Ana María Cabanellas (Heliasta, Claridad, unaLuna) on 4^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro & Marco Bosshard).
• Interview with José Juan Fernández (Editorial Losada) on 5^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Adriana Catarain (SBS Librería Internacional) on 5^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Jorge González (Grupo Ilhsa) on 5^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Fernando Fagnani (Edhasa Argentina) on 6^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Jorge Gutierrez (Comercial Director Buenos Aires Book Fair) on 6^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Mónica González (Narcea Ediciones) on 6^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Gabriel Waldhuter (Distribuidora Waldhuter) on 6^th October 2017 at LIBER Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with José Ignacio Padilla (Iberoamericana-Vervuert) on 2^nd November 2017 at Iberoamericana Bookstore (Madrid) (Fernando García Naharro).

 Guadalajara International Book Fair

• Interview with David Unger (US rep for the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL)), Armando de Santiago (FIL Exhibitors Coordinator) and Marisol Schulz (FIL Director) on 13^th October 2017 at Frankfurt Book Fair (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Paco de Blas (curator of "Ganarás la Luz", Madrid exhibition in FIL Guadalajara 2017. City Council of Madrid) on 25^th July 2017 in Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Belén Llera (Director of Libraries, Archives and Museums of Madrid. City Council of Madrid) on 27^th July 2017 in Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Miguel Garza (Mexican builder of the Madrid Pavilion in FIL Guadalajara 2017) on 26^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro & Matteo Anastasio).
• Interview with Pepo Paz Saz (Editorial Bartleby) on 27^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Hernan López Winnie (Ediciones Godot) on 27^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Alejandro Barahona (Panoplia de Libros (La Panoplia Export S.L.) on 28^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Jacobo Ribero (Radio M21. City Council of Madrid) on 28^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Wendolin Perla (Penguin Random House) on 29^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Rubén Padilla (Professionals Coordinator at Guadalajara International Book Fair) on 30^th November 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Juan Casamayor (Páginas de Espuma) on 1^st December 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Laura Niembro, Content director of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, on 3^rd December 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Matteo Anastasio, Freja Cervantes, Luise Hertwig and Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Melina Flores (responsible for the Guest of Honour at the Guadalajara International Book Fair) on 6^th December 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Margarita Sierra (former director of the Guadalajara International Book Fair) on 7^th December 2017 at FIL Guadalajara (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Carlos García Gual (curator of the Spanish exhibition in FIL Guadalajara 2000) on 19^th December 2018 in Madrid (Fernando García Naharro).

Madrid Book Fair

•  Interview with International Book Fairs Directors from America (Marisol Schulz (Guadalajara International Book Fair) Oche Califa (Buenos Aires Book Fair) José Carlos Alvariño (Lima International Book Fair) at Madrid Book Fair 2017 (Fernando García Naharro, Luise Hertwig, Matteo Anastasio).
• Interview with Pedro Berhan da Costa (Consejero Cultura Embajada Portugal en Madrid) on 6^th July 2017 (by phone) (Fernando García Naharro).
• Interview with Manuel Gil (Director Feria Libro Madrid) on 10^th July 2017 (by phone) (Fernando García Naharro).