Photos and text by J. Robertson Miller
Each year the fair has a theme. This year it was dedicated to the indigenous peoples of Panamá. This post will cover books. Another post discusses the 7 indigenous nations.
Held at the Atlapa convention center, the book fair spread over 2 floors and lasted 6 days. Book displays were on the main floor. Attendance was good. Performers and some presenters were in costume, students were in uniform, the indigenous peoples wore their native dress and the rest of us “regular folk” wore regular clothes. Quite a mix.
Lectures were held in the rooms on the upper floor. Some talks were filmed for television. When the director called “cut” people relaxed, shifted positions, took drinks from the water bottles supplied to all speakers, and started chatting with friends and audience members.
Professor Danae Brugati, a popular teacher in our school, polyglot, author of 4 books, and a Book Fair presenter was interviewed for TV and again for radio after one of her talks.
Before the fair started a scheduled presenter notified the committee that they were unable to attend. Danae and her friend Javier Alverado Díaz were asked to fill in that spot. She corralled me, and Javier brought in one of his friends, Reginaldo Andía Navarro.
Danae and Javier created an interesting presentation. Danae and Javier discussed literary styles by several authors and read selections in Spanish. In addition they included the reading of a sonnet from Shakespeare (number 24) and one by Spencer (number 1). Reginaldo read each of these sonnets in French and I read the same ones in English for comparison. Javier read a selection of his poems then he and Danae brought the discussion to a conclusion and answered audience questions.
The lectures were well attended. Most had Q&As at the end and opportunity to speak with the presenters. Displays on the main floor had people looking and asking questions. Authors were on hand to sell and autograph their books.
Each day electronic boards listed what was scheduled for that day with the time and location of each event. The choices were wide ranging including dances, music and talks on many subjects. It seemed everyone was taking pictures. I bought several books and had my picture taken with the author of each of the books. Fun.
