Seville Book Fair 2023: An Autumn Literary Event in the Heart of the City
📅 Dates and Location of the Seville Book Fair 2023
The Seville Book Fair 2023 will be held from Thursday 26 October to Sunday 5 November 2023, occupying two of the city’s most emblematic squares for eleven days: Plaza Nueva and Plaza de San Francisco.
The setting could not be more Sevillian: at the foot of City Hall, surrounded by historic buildings and with the Giralda as a silent witness, reading took over the streets of the monumental centre.
The official opening of the Seville Book Fair 2023 will take place on Thursday 26 October at 8:00 pm in Plaza de San Francisco, with an event that marked the starting signal for ten intense days of literature, dialogues and encounters.
The slogan chosen for this edition was "The spell of reading", and the poster announcing it was the work of illustrator Maria Hesse, who paid tribute to the surrealist painter Remedios Varo.
📜 Brief History of the Seville Book Fair
Seville Book Fair is one of the most deeply rooted cultural events in the city’s calendar. Organised by the Institute of Culture and Arts of Seville City Council (ICAS) in collaboration with the Seville Book Fair Association (AFLS), its aim is to make Seville a national and international literary reference.
In 2022, the Seville Book Fair reached maturity with a format that had already proved successful in previous years: two distinct but connected spaces. Plaza Nueva hosted the traditional bookshop and publisher stalls, as well as book presentations and author signings. Plaza de San Francisco, meanwhile, was the setting for Hispalit, the Spanish Language Book Festival, which celebrated its second edition.
🏛️ The Seville Book Fair 2023 in Figures
A Large‑Scale Event
The Seville Book Fair 2023 edition will bring together 67 exhibitors, distributed across 50 stalls, of which 21 are bookshops and 39 are publishers, in addition to two publishers’ associations (Andalusian and Murcian) and five sponsoring organisations. A significant fact is that 13 of these exhibitors were participating for the first time, reflecting the fair’s dynamism and capacity for renewal.
🎭 The Programme of the Seville Book Fair 2023
The Seville Book Fair 2023 featured the presence of almost one hundred authors, representatives of national and Latin American letters. The programme was structured around book presentations, dialogues between authors and activities for all audiences.
📖 Opening with Luis Landero (26 October)
The person in charge of opening the fair was the Extremaduran writer Luis Landero, the most recent National Prize for Literature at the time of the event. In a conversation with journalist Jesús Vigorra, Landero reflected on "the role of the writer in society" and lamented "the prestige" that society gave to young authors in the last decades of the last century, contrasting it with today’s culture which, in his words, "is now the leisure industry", a symptom of a "puerilised society".
📚 Highlighted Days of the Seville Book Fair 2023 Programme
Friday 27 Oct
- Presentation of La hermandad de las malas hijas, by Vanesa Montfort;
- Dialogue between Argentine writer Alan Pauls and Alejandro Luque
Saturday 28 Oct
- Presentation of La rosa y las espinas by Alfonso Guerra;
- Andrés Trapiello with his memoir Éramos otros
Sunday 29 Oct
- Day of female voices: Carmen Camacho with La mujer de enfrente, Marta Sanz with *Corpórea. Poesía 2010-2022*, and Silvia Hidalgo,
- Tusquets Novel Prize 2023, with Nada que decir
Monday 30 Oct Presentation of the Seville Book Fair Awards to Fernando Iwasaki (Figure of the Year), Alicia Bululú (Promotion of Reading) and Antonio María Ávila (Career); Sergio del Molino with La Hora Violeta
Tuesday 31 OctPresentation of the Ateneo de Sevilla Novel Awards to José Luis Gil Soto and Dimas Prychyslyy
🌎 Hispalit: The Spanish Language Book Festival
The big bet of the Seville Book Fair 2023 was the second edition of Hispalit, the Spanish Language Book Festival, which was held from 1 to 5 November in Plaza de San Francisco. Its aim: "to forge strong links between the Andalusian capital and Latin America through dialogue between great standard‑bearers of Spanish letters".
🌟 Hispalit Facts
Hispalit will feature 13 events, with opening sessions by Isabel Coixet and Sara Mesa, as well as those by Mariana Enríquez, Alana S. Portero, Rosario Villajos and Fernando Aramburu.
🏆 Awards and Recognitions
The Seville Book Fair Association will present its annual awards at an event on Monday 30 October.
🎨 Parallel Activities at the Seville Book Fair 2023: Culture in the Streets
Beyond presentations and dialogues, the Seville Book Fair 2023 offered a wide range of complementary activities:
- Storytelling: During weekends and public holidays, children enjoyed oral storytelling sessions.
- 9th Short Story Marathon: Held on Thursday 2 November in Plaza Nueva, it invited participants of all ages to demonstrate their literary ingenuity.
- Meeting with Betis players: Organised by the José Manuel Lara Foundation, it brought literature closer to the world of sport.
- School visits: Hundreds of primary and secondary school students toured the fair in collaboration with the City Council’s Education department.
🌟 What the Book Fair Represents for Seville
The Seville Book Fair 2023 was, according to the Book Fair Association, a "historic edition", which proved that this event "belongs to the people of Seville and strengthens Seville’s cultural offering".
🏡: Your Luxury Retreat in the Literary Heart of Seville
At THE SUN PLACES, we know that a cultural experience like the Seville Book Fair deserves to be enjoyed from the comfort and elegance offered by our Luxury Apartments in Seville.
🌟 Our Proposal for Culture Lovers
- Strategic Location: Our apartments are located in the historic centre of Seville, just steps from Plaza Nueva and Plaza de San Francisco, the epicentres of the fair.
- Absolute Comfort: Enjoy spacious areas, equipped kitchens and private terraces to rest after a day of presentations, signings and literary dialogues.
- Cultural Concierge: Our local team will help you with recommendations on the most notable activities, presentation times and the best spots to enjoy the literary atmosphere.
- The Perfect Retreat: After a day immersed in letters, return to a space of tranquillity and elegance where you can share your readings and recharge.
"The Seville Book Fair 2023 proved that culture beats strongly in the heart of the city. At THE SUN PLACES, we open the doors of Seville for you to experience its great cultural events with the luxury and comfort you deserve."
📞 Contact THE SUN PLACES to book your luxury apartment in Seville and get ready to discover the city through its pages and its streets