Israeli Embassy in Mexico participates in largest book fair in the Americas

The Guadalajara International Book Fair is the largest fair of its type in the Americas, and the second-largest book fair in the world after the Frankfurt Book Fair. The Book Fair was held from November 26-December 4 2022 at the Expo Guadalajara convention center and is considered the most important annual cultural event in the Spanish-speaking world. Israeli Ambassador to Mexico, Zvi Tal, and the Embassy’s Cultural Coordinator, Monica Diner, were present at the opening ceremonies.

This year, as in previous years, the Israeli Embassy in Mexico participated in the Fair. The Embassy presented a booth featuring the very best writers from Israel, past and present.

“We are happy to return to participate in the book fair in a physical format after two years of virtual activity due to the pandemic,” said Tal Itzhakov, Cultural and press attaché in the Israeli embassy in Mexico. “We were privileged to tell the Israeli story in the fields of literature and science, and to expose the public to the best of Israeli literature translated into Spanish."

Israeli author, novelist and attorney Yishai Sarid came to the Fair to present his novel, “The Memory Monster,” which was acclaimed as one of the 100 notable books of 2020 by the New York Times. The book is written as a report by a young historian to the Chairman of Yad Vashem, telling of his struggle against the monster of memory until the moment it takes over his life.  

The young historian quickly becomes an expert on the Nazi methods of extermination and leads guided tours of the death camps for students and visiting dignitaries. The murder sites become his workplace, and the horror penetrates his soul. He begins to detect, both in himself and his students, a type of admiration for the power and efficiency of the Nazi murderers.  

Through Sarid’s clear and direct prose, the young historian reports the disintegrating and distorted processes happening to him during his work, and his rise and fall as an agent of memory until he reaches the breaking point.

Sarid spoke about the memory of the Holocaust in a conversation with students and adults at the festival, hosted by Jose Pepe Gordon, a TV presenter and a well-known journalist in the field of culture and science in Mexico. Prof. Meytal Landau of the Technion also attended the Festival and presented her research on how protein structure-function relationships can be used to better understand diseases and treat them.