Book Fair in the Borne from today to June 4

THE 14th edition of the Book Fair will run from today to June 4 in the Borne in Palma, bringing together 26 exhibitors, of which 13 are booksellers and five are publishers, from Palma, Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. The President of the Guild of Booksellers, Marian Colom, explained yesterday, during the press conference to present the Fair, that Palma council had not confirmed until just before Easter that the Fair could take place in the Borne, which limited the time available to organise it. Also this year, she commented, the stalls will be situated facing onto the road, due to the complaints of the shopkeepers who said that their businesses were adversely affected if the stalls faced the other way. The Fair is “a slave” to space, as it occupies some 600 square metres, which makes it very difficult to hold it in other central places in the city, said Colom. In this respect she said that, before they got the council's confirmation that they could use the Borne, the organisers had considered the possibility of holding it in the Via Roma, a venue which would have made it more expensive to stage and which would only have had room for 40 exhibitors. She said that the people who usually come to the Fair are very diverse, they are people who are strolling through the city and decide to go to the Fair and are not normal bookstore clients.