Porto Alegre Book Fair Explained

The Porto Alegre Book Fair is a book fair held annually, between late October to mid-November, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is the biggest[1] open-space book fair in Latin America and the most important cultural event in Porto Alegre. The Porto Alegre Book Fair has been hosted in Porto Alegre downtown since its first edition. Nowadays, the Fair sprawls itself between the Alfândega Square, the Sepúlveda Avenue and some docks at Porto Alegre Harbor.

History

The Porto Alegre Book Fair was an idea from Say Marques, then manager of the Diário de Notícias newspaper. Marques wanted to make books available to the majority of the citizens, as bookshops were deemed to be snobbish. The first edition of the Book Fair had 14 book stands and it was inaugurated on November 16, 1955.

Patrons of the Porto Alegre Book Fair

There is a patron for the Fair since 1965. Selection[2] of the Patron has two phases. In the first phase, each bookshop associated to the Rio-Grandense Book Chamber submits five names. In the second phase, the 10 most voted persons list is submitted to 88 persons arising from the cultural scene. The most voted shall be the Patron of the Porto Alegre Book Fair; in case of tie ballot, the eldest one shall be chosen.

List of Patrons

  1. 1965 - Alcides Maya
  2. 1966 - João Simões Lopes Neto
  3. 1967 - Alceu Wamosy
  4. 1968 - Caldas Júnior
  5. 1969 - Eduardo Guimaraens
  6. 1970 - Augusto Meyer
  7. 1971 - Manoelito de Ornellas
  8. 1972 - Luís Vaz de Camões
  9. 1973 - Darcy Azambuja
  10. 1974 - Leopoldo Bernardo Boeck
  11. 1975 - Athos Damasceno Ferreira
  12. 1976 - Erico Verissimo
  13. 1977 - Henrique Bertaso
  14. 1978 - Walter Spalding
  15. 1979 - Augustin Saint-Hilaire
  16. 1980 - Moysés Vellinho
  17. 1981 - Adão Juvenal de Souza
  18. 1982 - Reynaldo Moura e Monteiro Lobato
  19. 1983 - José Bertaso
  20. 1984 - Maurício Rosenblatt
  21. 1985 - Mario Quintana
  22. 1986 - Cyro Martins
  23. 1987 - Moacyr Scliar
  24. 1988 - Alberto André
  25. 1989 - Maria Dinorah
  26. 1990 - Guilhermino César
  27. 1991 - Luis Fernando Verissimo
  28. 1992 - Paulo Fontoura Gastal
  29. 1993 - Carlos Reverbel
  30. 1994 - Nelson Boeck, Edgardo Xavier, Mário de Almeida Lima e Sétimo Luizelli
  31. 1995 - Caio Fernando Abreu
  32. 1996 - Lya Luft
  33. 1997 - Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil
  34. 1998 - Patrícia Bins
  35. 1999 - Décio Freitas
  36. 2000 - Barbosa Lessa
  37. 2001 - Armindo Trevisan
  38. 2002 - Ruy Carlos Ostermann
  39. 2003 - Walter Galvani
  40. 2004 - Donaldo Schüler
  41. 2005 - Friar Rovílio Costa

External links

References

  1. http://www.terragaucha.com.br/feira_do_livro.htm "Feiras do Livro em Porto Alegre." Terragaúcha. 6 August 2006
  2. http://www.feiradolivro-poa.com.br/feira.aspx "Patrono." Feira do Livro - Porto Alegre. 6 August 2006