The Bogotá International Book Fair has already announced its guest country for 2026.

India will be the guest of honor at the 38th Bogotá International Book Fair (FilBo) , to be held from April 21 to May 4, 2026, in a bid to foster " a dialogue between cultures " and strengthen relations between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry reported Tuesday.

" This is an excellent opportunity to continue to make things more complex and to have a dialogue between cultures ," said Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, Colombia's Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs, in a press conference. He added that " there is no better way to combat the idea of a clash of cultures than with a dialogue of arts, knowledge and cultures ."

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The fair, one of Colombia's most important cultural events, had Spain as its guest of honor in 2025 and was attended by more than 575,000 people.

For next year's edition, organizers expect more than 630,000 people to attend the Corferias fairgrounds, where the event is held .

"Meeting of Cultures"

The Indian Ambassador to Bogotá, Shri Vanlalhuma , stated that " this prestigious fair, which over the years has become one of the most important cultural events in Latin America, is not only a celebration of books and their authors, but also a vibrant meeting point of cultures, languages and ideas ."

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" By inviting India as our guest of honor, Colombia has extended a gesture of friendship and trust, and for this, on behalf of my government and the people of India, I express our deepest gratitude ," the diplomat added.

Vanlalhuma stressed that " India is a civilization with a literary tradition spanning over 5,000 years," with a rich literature ranging "from the ancient Vedas and epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, to the philosophical treatises of ancient sages ."

It also ranges " from the poetry of Kalidasa to the modern prose of Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand, RK Narayan and many others ."

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" Indian literature reflects the diversity, complexity, and beauty of our society. We write and publish in more than 20 officially recognized languages and hundreds of dialects, making our literary landscape one of the richest in the world ," he said.

The president of the Colombian Book Chamber, Emiro Aristizábal , emphasized that " India's presence at FilBo will be an invitation to travel through literature, its films, its dances, its crafts and, of course, its gastronomy ."

Meanwhile, Minister of Culture Yannai Kadamani stated that the choice of the Asian country as the fair's guest of honor is " based on the deep conviction of understanding ourselves as an intercultural humanity ."

" It's a spiritual opportunity, but above all a political one, to understand how universal sacredness permeates politics, society, diplomacy, and hopefully our way of seeing and understanding the world ," he emphasized.

EFE