President of Portugal and Lisbon City Council inaugurate the 92nd Book Fair
Marcelo Rebelo de Agosto Accompanied by the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (L), during the inauguration of the 92nd August Book Fair/LUSA, at Parque Eduardo VII, 202. JOSÉ SENA GOULÃO/LUSA
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President of Portugal, Marcelo de Sousa, accompanied by the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, attended the opening of the 92nd Lisbon Book Fair, at Parque Eduardo VII, this Thursday.
From August 25 to September 11, Parque Eduardo VII will host another edition of the Book Fair, with 340 pavilions spread over 140 exhibitors, publishers and booksellers, representing 961 publishing brands and thousands of authors.
The President of the Republic said that he said that Fernando Medina, now Minister of Finance, maintains support for measures to defend the book and protect the edition he defends as mayor of Lisbon.
At the opening ceremony of the event, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousau who “were and defend effective measures to protect the event”.
“Fortunately, the former mayor of Lisbon is now Minister of Finance, who has always defended here – opening on the opening of the Book Fair – the defense of the book and protection of the edition, we already know what we count on and we can only count on”, he said, causing laughter in the audience at the ceremony, which was attended by the Minister of Education, João Costa.
The Estado de Estado also defended that “measures related to second-hand books continue to be effective”, warning that high prices in large cities “still defend the viability of many bosses even though they kill the second-hand booksellers”.
“Times to resistance, a resistance and resistance that now has more time for resilience, resistance and resistance than now has more time for resilience, resistance and resistance than now has been more time for resilience and in almost no sector has this been more notorious than in the book sector”, he highlighted.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also highlighted, in this edition of the fair, the “not only aesthetic or logistical, but ecological” improvements of the pavilions, and promised to return “with the shopping cart”.
“It’s my 67th, I was doing the math and my heart stopped, it was still on Avenida da Liberdade”, he recalled, saying he hoped to still fulfill his 92nd, the number of editions that are marked this year.
“Not likely, but not possible”, considered.
The President of the Republic welcomed the ambassador of Ukraine to Portugal, Inna Ohnivets, in attendance, highlighting the importance of this country being the guest of the fair this year, with the presence of a small ‘stand’ with Ukrainian books and associated programming.
“You know how Ukraine the Ukrainians are loved in Portugal not only from a distance, but because they know them on a daily basis”, he stressed.
A special compliment went to the other mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, another speaker at the ceremony and who accompanied him on this first visit for sure.
“What a great way the mayor is, he is enjoying it, what he is doing”, extending the same greeting to Secretary of State Isabel Cordeiro.
After the inauguration, the President of the Republic made what should have been a short tour of the fair, but which lasted more than an hour, stopping at all the pavilions in the corridor, where I greeted the employees.
“Have they sold a lot? Good sales”, was the question repeated up the street.
Always at his side, the minister of education and the secretary of education to accompany, the still president when buying three books, the president, prices, others “still not increasing costs” – and he gave advice to the mayor of Lisbon .
“The best time to come is dinnertime or a football game,” he confided.
Among the many requests for ‘selfies’, always answered, the head of state with writers, such as Alice Vieira, or former politicians such as Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, promising to return “three or four more times”.
At the beginning of the trip, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stopped at a stand intended for the donation of books and left some official publications from Belém and the Museum of the Presidency.
This year, Ukraine the guest of honor has a space dedicated to its Embassy, for the promotion of culture and literature.
Lisbon, said Carlos Moedas, “is on the side of freedom”, “against aggression, against barbarism, against tyranny”. The opening of the Lisbon City Council took place at the official opening of the Lisbon Book Fair, which took place “a manifestation of hope” in the face of “a period of entry of the Book Fair of Uncertainty”, with the entry “into a new world (…) shock of the pandemic”, which now “lives an unbelievable war on European soil.”
Soon, Carlos Moedas added, Lisbon will “be committed to the creation and installation of two new cultural facilities dedicated to reading and books: the Espaço Atlântida – Centro de Estudos de História da Leitura (Manguel Library), and the future Municipal Library of Benfica. , with “a space exclusively dedicated to the author António Lobo Antunes who ceded a large part of his estate to the municipality.”
For the, the Lisbon Book Fair will return to the usual calendar, taking place in May and June, with the President of the Republic promising an already traditional year, the Book Festival in Belém.