Israel is the guest of honor at this year’s multi-faceted literary fair – the largest of its kind on the American continent.
Around 700,000 general visitors, 20,000 trade professionals and 2,000 publishers from 43 countries are expected at the nine-day fair, which takes up every inch of floor space at the Expo Guadalajara trade show center.
On Saturday morning, Nobel Laureate Peres will cut the ribbon at the 1,750-square-meter Israeli pavilion that will not only showcase novelists and poets but cultural icons from the visual and performing arts as well as academia.The delegation includes well-known authors, playwrights, scriptwriters, illustrators, poets, musicians, singers, journalists, film directors and producers.
More than 200 Israeli cultural activities are set to take place throughout the city, including nightly performances in the Foro Expo and a film cycle (see pages 28 and 29). The Cabañas Institute will host the exhibit “Plural: A Panorama of Contemporary Israeli Art.”
According to Israel’s ambassador to Mexico, Rodica Radian Gordon, this will be Israel’s largest ever presence at a cultural event abroad.
Peres and an 80-member business delegation arrived in Mexico City earlier this week. Together with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Telmex magnate Carlos Slim, he opened the two-day Israel-Mexico Business Conference on Tuesday.
Peres met for private talks with Peña Nieto and addressed the Mexican Senate, during which he spoke of his overwhelming desire for a peace deal with the Palestinians and the benefits that would bring to everyone. He also called on Iran’s people to reject terrorism.
Peres attended a reception held in his honor by the Mexican Jewish community.