Jerusalem International Book Fair

The Jerusalem International Book Fair (JIBF) is a business fair and literary festival co-founded by Asher Weill in 1963.[1] It takes place in Jerusalem in the winter every two years. It is the occasion for award of the Jerusalem Prize.

Aims

The Fair aims to promote Israeli literature in international publishing and expose contemporary international literature to the Israeli public. More than 100,000 books are on display. Admission is free to the public.[2]

Attendance

Those attending include about 600 publishers and authors from over 30 countries, in addition to agents, sales personnel, and international human rights representatives.

Location

The Fair was always held in Jerusalem's International Convention Center (Binyanei Hauma) until 2015. In that year it was spread across a number of cultural institutions supported by the Jerusalem Foundation, such as Mishkenot Sha'ananim, the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Khan Theatre.[3]

Fellowships

The Fair's Editorial and Agent Fellowship Programs invites a group of young editors and agents to attend the Fair, providing them with an opportunity to meet their international contemporaries.

Awards

The Jerusalem Prize

One of the Fair's important events is the awarding of the Jerusalem Prize[4] to a writer whose work best expresses and promotes the idea of the freedom of the individual in society. The Jerusalem Prize has in fact been awarded to five writers who afterwards received the Nobel Prize for literature. It was awarded to the British writer Ian McEwan in 2011.[5]

Other activities

One of the Fair's public events, the "Literary Cafe", offers open encounters between Israeli and foreign writers in a cafe.

References
  1. www.publishersweekly.com https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20030609/34786-books-in-the-shadow-of-peace.html. Retrieved 2020-01-13. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "Jerusalem Book Fair". Jerusalem Municipality. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  3. "Jerusalem International Book Fair". Jerusalem Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  4. "27th Jerusalem International Book Fair", Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 October 2014
  5. "Ian McEwan says he will accept Jerusalem prize", The Guardian, 19 January 2011
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