Venezuela Concludes International Book Fair 2018 in Caracas

Venezuela’s 14th International Book Festival (FILVEN) came to a close in Caracas’ historic centre this Sunday, after ten days of packed cultural activities under the slogan, ‘To Read is to Live’.

During the event, 642,822 visitors were reported, as well as more than 160 low-cost books and around 500 different cultural activities, including 80 specifically for children. For the first time, two e-books were presented at the Festival. The participation of the residents of Caracas was significantly up from last year’s reported 150,000 visitors.

“We are very happy that this book festival gave us the opportunity spend some time with my family, with the community here in the Bolivar Square, as well as make beautiful use of the historic spaces [of the city],” expressed Caracas resident Jose Palacios.

Amongst the honoured guests at this year’s festival were a number of Turkish printing houses, which brought 2.5 tonnes of books, principally on Euro-Asian Culture.

At the closing event of the festival, Culture Minister Ernesto Villegas awarded the National Culture Award to the Cesar Rengifo Theatre Movement for children.

Text by Paul Dobson for Venezuelanalysis.com.