Sport and literature converge in the official poster of the 83rd Madrid Book Fair
This morning, the Madrid Book Fair presented the poster illustrating its 83rd edition, which will take place from 31 May to 16 June, at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute in Madrid.
Its author, Mikel Casal (San Sebastián, 1965), has managed to show with his illustration that sport and reading are not so far removed from each other, as both contribute to cultivating the body and mind. Casal's poster perfectly embodies this year's slogan: "Train your mind, read your body".
After the words of welcome from the Deputy Director of Culture of the Cervantes Institute, Ernesto Pérez Zúñiga, the author from San Sebastian shared that his graphic proposal "plays with the idea that both the habit of reading and that of practising sport are ways of putting into practice a vital position, a luminous position". Casal revealed the technique used to create the poster: a hybrid mixture of handmade textures and digital techniques; geometric elements and simple gestures that are habitual in his work, and the use of Olympic colours as "a nod to the backbone theme of the Fair in this Olympic year, sport".
The Director of the Madrid Book Fair, Eva Orúe, who directed the event, expressed her admiration for the illustrator's work: "Mikel's poster is, as we expected, joyful and colourful; it is brimming with humour and displays the unmistakable style that encouraged us to propose it to him".
Eva Orúe: "The ONCE turns the poster we see into one we touch"
The conference room of the Cervantes Institute also hosted the presentation of the ONCE's version of one of its coupons. It is an initiative that has already become "a classic of the Fair", in the words of Eva Orúe. This year, "El Sueldazo Fin de Semana" on 16 June, the last day of the Fair, will carry the image created by Mikel Casal.
Carmen Bayarri, director of the ONCE Bibliographic Service, present at the event, pointed out that the Fair is an essential ally for the visibility and recognition of the necessary accessibility of books. "It is a pleasure for the Organisation to be able to share the Madrid Book Fair poster on 5.5 million coupons, which is the same as linking the Fair to the illusion of those who will approach our more than 20,000 sellers, spread throughout all corners of Spain", she said.
The director of the Madrid Book Fair also highlighted and thanked ONCE for their work "for turning the poster we see into one we touch, which helps us to reach further".
For her part, Bayarri explained how it has been possible to adapt the Fair's poster to an accessible version for the visually impaired by playing with different materials and reliefs: "The parts of the character's body and the books that surround him have been highlighted - including the flame in the torch book - with different textures for each of the colours, and a tactile legend with the corresponding equivalents. The Braille writing and some of the information has been highlighted with ultraviolet varnish," added the director of the ONCE Bibliographic Service.
The poster is now available on the Fair's website, as well as all the adaptations to different objects, such as bags, T-shirts, notebooks, bookmarks and mugs.
