Queen Leticia Opens 2021 Madrid Book Fair
Queen Leticia has been in central Madrid today to open the 80th annual Feria de Libros ( Madrid International Book Fair). 
The feria, which last year had to be held virtually, due to the pandemic returned to the Retiro Park and runs until 26th September.
This year, the featured country is Colombia, coinciding with the belated marking of the centenary of the birth of Manuel Zapata Olivella (1920-2004) who is considered one the important figures of Afro-Colombian literature.
Visitors will be able to enjoy a Columbian and Caribbean theme along with the more than 50 fiction and non-fiction writers representing the different regions of the country.
The queen was accompanied by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida as well as the Culture Minister, Miquel Iceta and the Vice President of Columbia, Marta Lucía Ramírez.
The 2019 feria saw record attendance of 2.3 million people and over half a million books sold ( a 14% increase on sales on the previous year).
Authors occupied the 361 stalls as well as others run by bookshops, publishers, distributors and institutions with more than 1,800 authors (of whom 42% were women) and 5,200 book signings by the likes of Domingo Villar, Elvira Sastre, Ian Gibson, Camilla Läckberg and Elísabet Benavent were held.
As well as book stalls the fair holds more than 300 activities to promote reading, including conferences, workshops and round tables in the different spaces.
