Israeli authors, screenwriters featured at Buenos Aires book fair

Israeli authors and screenwriters are being featured at the 38th Book Fair of Buenos Aires.

The book fair, which runs through May 7, reportedly is the most visited book fair in the Spanish-speaking world; last year more than 1.25 million people attended.

Joseph Cedar, the Academy Award-nominated director and screenwriter, participated over the weekend in a panel with Argentinean Jewish filmmaker Daniel Burman, who received the Silver Bear Award at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival and will present his first book.

A special Israel Day will be held May 3 that will include a public interview with award-winning Israeli author David Grossman in the fair’s main hall.

At the Israeli stand, sponsored by the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, visitors will be able to read a paragraph of a story from an Israeli author or poet that will be recorded on video. This collective production will be edited by the Film Research Center and posted on YouTube.

The Israeli stand also will screen Israeli movies. “A lot of people like the movies, so we try to show them also the writing side of the movies and the books behind the movies,” Daniel Gazit, the Israeli ambassador to Argentina, told JTA.

Romanian Norman Manea, who won the National Jewish Book Award in 1993; economist and author Bernardo Kliksberg; and Israeli poet Amir Or also will participate in the book fair.