Passo Fundo City Hall, through the Department of Culture and with the Academia Passo-fundense de Letras (APL) as its proponent, closed this Sunday (22) the 35th edition of the Book Fair. There were nine days of a literary festival that moved the Roseli Doleski Preto cultural space.
According to the Secretary of Culture, Miriê Tedesco, the Fair was attended by ten booksellers, in a new space that provided more possibilities for activities in the same location. “Traditionally, the Book Fair period always brings rain. The choice of this location to host the event showed us that despite these adverse weather conditions, we were able to maintain our programming thanks to the buildings of the Academia Passo-fundense Letras, Municipal Theater, Library, and Historical Institute. We managed to move all the programming that would have been outdoors to these buildings, without changing our activities”, declares Miriê.
The Secretary emphasizes that the venue ended up being very suitable in terms of logistics, without causing any disruption to traffic. “We are in the city center, all access points lead here, which is also a positive point. Everyone who arrived found the environment to be welcoming and cozy, and we understand that this is because of everything in this cultural complex. We started on Sunday (14) with a much higher-than-expected audience, and during the week, even on rainy days, the students came as scheduled. It was a fair that, in terms of attendance, was much larger,” she points out.
The mayor, Pedro Almeida, also highlighted the Passaporte da Leitura project, which gives students from the municipal network a book voucher worth R$40.00 that students were able to exchange during the Fair. “This project gave many of the students the opportunity to purchase a book for the first time. This is part of our process of being an educating city, which prepares its children and teenagers for a social life”, he emphasizes.
According to secretary Miriê, the writers who came here returned delighted with the quality of the audience. “We had moments of debates, chats, where teenagers were asking quality questions about the topics discussed. And this shows how qualified we have teaching, how prepared we have teenagers, as well as children who are enchanted and interacted with the accountants
of stories”, he ponders.
The president of APL, Marilise Brockstedt Lech, states that the Book Fair is at a new stage in its editions. “People who passed by were very surprised, as we are in the heart of the city, easily accessible, but not everyone knew about it. Here is a historic place, well located, safe and that people passing by on the sidewalk, even without knowing the existence of the fair, ended up finding it and entering. It was very interesting to see people come in and then come back,
bringing the family, knowing that everything that was happening there was free and of high quality. The shows, theater, lectures, chats, book launches were thus a unique opportunity”, he emphasizes.
For the first time participating in the Fair, bookseller Ana Caroline Gomes talks about her desire to be present at the next edition. “It was really worth having the stand at the Book Fair. I don’t have a parameter on how sales were in other years, but, based on what I have sold in my store, I can say that it was positive, mainly due to the vouchers from municipal students”, she comments.
With the number of 35 participants in the event, bookseller Silvana Rovani states that this year’s Book Fair was atypical, as it was in a different location, with adverse weather conditions, however, it has a lot to add. “Our biggest movement was from municipal schools and the families of these children, mainly because of the book voucher. The City Hall provides students in the municipal network with a literary passport, bringing many people to our bookstore who had never bought a book. This year, through this initiative, students were able to buy and I witnessed children who had never bought a book in their lives and didn’t believe they were getting one”, she concludes.
