Babell is due to return to Porto in 2028 at biennial intervals

O Literary Babell Festival is due to return to Porto in 2028, taking place every two years and maintaining the financing model, its commissioner, Rui Couceiro, announced today at an international conference of the literary sector in Lisbon.

The writer and editor spoke at the second session of the International Congress “What now? International Congress of the Literary Sector in Times of Political Agitation”, integrated in the Days of Lisbon Literature, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

After presenting the model, experience and balance of the Babell Festival, which took place in June this year in Porto, Rui Couceiro was questioned by the moderator, Peter Florence, about its continuity.

“ We'll probably do it every two years. Probably the next edition will be in 2028”, replied Rui Couceiro, adding that the financing model of the first edition should be maintained, although with a “update” that did not specify.

According to Couceiro, the first edition of Babell, which represented an investment of more than three million euros, was financed almost entirely by the president of Fundação Livraria Lello, Pedro Pinto, who “decided that he wanted to spend money”, also with a small portion of public funding.

“ But most, almost everything, was directly financed by the owner of the bookstore”, he added.

The perspective of a second edition appears one day after the Livraria Lello Foundation released the balance sheet of Babell, in a statement in which Pedro Pinto regrets that the event did not contribute to an application from Porto to the World Capital of the Book 2028.

“ We would have liked this impulse to have contributed to an application for the World Capital of the Book 2028, an opportunity we regret not having been seized”, said Pedro Pinto.

In his speech today, Rui Couceiro highlighted the model of access to literary sessions, which replaced the purchase of tickets by the purchase of books in more than 50 adherent bookstores of Porto, allowing to sell thousands of books, lead readers to discover bookstores and help some establishments to bear expenses equivalent to one year's income.

The Commissioner argued that this model, which did not imply the payment of commissions to the organization, should be tried by other literary festivals in Portugal and abroad.

Rui Couceiro also stated that the festival registered a satisfaction rate of 95% from the public, despite the simultaneous interpretation problems occurred, in particular at the inaugural session, with philosopher Byung-Chul Han.

According to the balance sheet, the first issue of Babell, which took place between 24 and 29 June, brought together more than 400,000 participants in the various cultural activities, including concerts, exhibitions and literary initiatives.

The conversations with writers attracted more than 35,000 people, with the participation of authors such as Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood, Olga Tokarczuk, László Krasznahorkai, Julian Barnes, Javier Cercas, Lydia Jorge, Valter Hugo Mãe and Gonçalo M. Tavares.

According to a survey released by the organization, 71% of respondents bought two or more books, while another study showed that 95% expressed interest in returning to a next issue.

A study conducted by ISAG–European Business School and CICET-FCVC estimated the direct economic impact associated with the festival by EUR 54.1 million, including EUR 13,12 million in book spending, on the basis of extrapolating the results of a survey into the universe of 405,000 participants.