Book fairs and guests of honour: a showcase for the promotion of reading abroad (also)?

Abstract The main aim of this paper is to analyze international book fairs in this century and to see to which extend they represent a space of possibilities (economic, cultural, symbolic) for the countries (/cultures/cities) which appear, by reason of their literary production, appear as guests of honor in such fairs. The paper’s hypothesis is that this honor can also be an opportunity to promote the reading of these authors and their cultures -national, local, related to a particular canon or not- in a transnational space where translation plays a central role. For this reason, using the methodology of sociology of literature, we examine we use Brazil’s participation in the Salon du Livre de Paris, in 2015 as a case study. The country was designed as a guest of honor for the second time in this event’s history.