The 10th edition of the Porto Book Fair kicks off this Friday in the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal.
Manuel António Pina is the author honored at the 10th edition of the Porto Book Fair, which is already part of the city's cultural agenda. The literary fair is returning to the Jardins do Palácio de Cristal and, between August 25th and September 10th, more than a hundred publishers, booksellers and second-hand booksellers will occupy Avenida das Tílias.
The opening of the “Pina Germano” exhibition and the music of Mafalda Veiga are some of the highlights of the first day.
Once again, culture, music, cinema and humor will invade the Palácio de Cristal Gardens, with “books, always in a prominent place”, as stated by the Mayor of Porto.
This Friday, August 25th, at 5 pm, Rui Moreira and Jorge Sobrado, director of the Porto Museum, inaugurate the “Pina Germano” exhibition. After this moment, a visit to the event venue follows.
“Thinking and feeling through images”
The last weekend of August marks the start of a program that, over the course of three weeks, takes 20 conversations, 21 concerts, four cinema sessions, five comedy sessions and 58 activities to children and families.
On Avenida das Tílias, the epicenter of the literary festival, one of the trees takes on new symbolism. The tenth lime tree at the Book Fair will be awarded in memory of this year's honoree, in a ceremony that takes place at 3 pm on Saturday, August 26th. On the same day, at 4 pm, in the auditorium of the Almeida Garrett Municipal Library, Rui Lage, commissioner of the Homage to Manuel António Pina, leads the conversation “A Presença do Mistério”, a journey through the poetic singularities of the author and journalist.
A tribute to the author who, to paraphrase Pessoa, “thinks and feels through images”, is not done through words alone. An aficionado of the seventh art, Pina was the protagonist of the short film “As Casas não Morrem”, by Inês Fonseca Santos and Pedro Macedo Portugal, which will be shown at 9 pm on Saturday, August 26th, in the auditorium of the Almeida Garrett Municipal Library . “Se a Memória Existe”, by João Botelho, is also part of the inauguration of the cycle “Manuel António Pina and Cinema”. Directors Inês Fonseca Santos and João Botelho will then be in conversation.
On Sunday, the library auditorium shows, at 3 pm, “A place to lay your head”. The documentary by Alberto Serra and Ricardo Espírito Santo reveals Manuel António Pina in the first person, with testimonies from friends, family and experts on his work.
Music, related to literature, will also be heard in Lago dos Cavalinhos and in the Acoustic Shell of Jardins do Palácio de Cristal, during the opening weekend of the event. The singer Mafalda Veiga (Friday, August 25th, at 7pm), the Jazz trio Themandus (Saturday, August 26th, at 11:30am) and the band Ruge – a project by Rodrigo Guedes de Carvalho, Daniela Onis and Ruben Alves (Sunday, August 27th, at 7 pm) – will entertain the first visitors to this year's edition of the literary festival.
“Pina Germano” exhibition on view until January 2024
Through letters, documents and photographs, “Pina Germano” – which remains at the Almeida Garrett Municipal Library until January 2024 – portrays the friendship between Manuel António Pina and Germano Silva, a storyteller from the city that brought them together.
Using memories, epistles, photographs and other documents, the “great story of friendship, love and correspondence in Porto today is presented: the story that linked (and still links) the poet and journalist Manuel António Pina (disappeared in 2012 ) to fellow journalist and local historian, Germano Silva”, highlights Jorge Sobrado.
SOURCE: CM Porto