The Costa Rican Ministry of Culture and Youth (MCJ), through the Center for Artistic and Cultural Production (CPAC), is preparing to host the National Reading Festival, a project that, year after year, reaffirms its commitment to democratic access to culture, collective creation, and the value of words as a driving force for social transformation.
With more than 132 stands and 150 free activities, the book fair will take over the Old Customs House for three days to offer a meeting of authors, publishing projects, bookstores, collectives, and reading communities. The event seeks to strengthen the national literary ecosystem and bring reading closer to young audiences through enjoyment, participation, and exchange.
Jorge Rodríguez Vives, Minister of Culture and Youth, stated:
The 2025 National Reading Festival is a reminder that words, in all their forms, are a vital bridge for encounter, imagination, and social transformation. During these three days of open and free celebration, we want to invite all citizens to discover or rediscover a love of reading, for sharing stories, and thereby, together strengthen the Costa Rican literary ecosystem. This 2025, we celebrate the writer Lara Ríos, whose work has shaped generations. We will also have the distinction of sharing our celebration with Medellín, as Guest City of Honor. We will meet at the Old Customs House to experience this great celebration of words together.
For her part, Sally Molina, director of CPAC, stated:
The National Reading Festival is an invitation to reconnect with stories, with words, and with the emotions they awaken. At CPAC, we are proud to produce this event that not only celebrates reading as a pleasure, but also promotes the national literary sector, fosters networks, and opens doors to new cultural opportunities for all.
Medellín, Guest of Honor City
This year, it will feature the special participation of Medellín as Guest of Honor City, in recognition of its commitment to building peace and social fabric through culture. The Colombian delegation will be led by Santiago Silva Jaramillo, Secretary of Civic Culture of Medellín, along with a series of key figures in Latin American thought, art, and literature. Jaramillo stated:
Deeply honored
In Medellín, we are deeply honored by the invitation we received to be a city honored at the National Reading Festival. We will be presenting the importance of book events, the library system, and the celebration of our 350 years as a city, through the Reading, Writing, and Orality Plan. The guest city will have its own program within the event, with high-profile guests such as documentary filmmaker and writer Carolina Calle Vallejo, filmmaker Víctor Gaviria González, and journalist and columnist Patricia Nieto Nieto, director of the University of Antioquia Press.
In addition, thanks to the efforts of the Colombian Embassy in Costa Rica, the event will feature the presence of writer Melba Escobar, a Colombian journalist, writer, and columnist featured in the White Ravens catalog of the International Youth Library in Munich.
Costa Rica at its own Book Fair
Representing Costa Rican literature, there will be 29 stands featuring independent authors, including writer María Pérez Yglesias, author of “Diary of a Distracted Traveler” and “Silence, the World Has a Broken Wing,” Daniel Fernández, author of “Witness to My Death,” and Jeannette Soto Segura, author of “Tales of Light in Tiquicia.”
In addition, this book fair joins UNESCO, incorporating its activities into the global agenda to commemorate the anniversary of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
Tributes, Poetry, and Film
Among the highlights is the tribute to Costa Rican writer Lara Ríos, one of the most beloved authors by generations of Costa Rican readers. Her work and legacy will be recognized in a special tribute that will feature the writer. This year, the main hall of this book fair will bear her name in tribute to her career.
See the whole program at: www.mcj.go.cr/cpac
