Cali 2025 breaks attendance records at its literary fair and takes the title of the country's largest open-air bookstore

The 2025 edition of the Cali International Book Fair (FIL Cali) left an unforgettable mark with its traditional activities on the famous River Boulevard, setting a new attendance record by receiving 520,000 visitors.

FIL Cali celebrated its first decade honoring Colombia, its history, and its rich cultural, social, and environmental heritage, while also discussing countless current issues in national life. The Fair featured a variety of activities: book launches, presentations by renowned authors and emerging literary figures, launches of scientific and academic publications, artistic and children's events, and the awards ceremony for the Andrés Caicedo Short Story Contest for Young Writers.

During its 11 days of programming, which took place from October 24 to November 3, the event with completely free access became the largest open-air bookstore in South America, with a route of 92,000 square meters, spread in the iconic spaces of Cali: the Bulevar del Río and the Paseo Bolívar, which bring together historical and heritage monuments, parks, squares, the La Ermita Church, routes surrounded by nature and framed by the Cali River.

The event featured 5,717 m² of ephemeral architecture, comprising 34 pavilions and auditoriums, which included institutions and companies such as: TQ, Celsia, GEUP, Colombia, the Valle del Cauca government: El Valle y sus Letras; Univalle, Comfandi, Scarpetta Gnecco, the Public Library Network, the Cali Education Secretariat, among others.

The organizers of FIL Cali held the event's first Children's Zone , featuring academic, artistic, and recreational activities for children and their families, as well as a selection of books; approximately 10,000 people participated in the activities. Present in the zone were representatives from Comfandi, the Colombian-Japanese Association, and the publishers Saganome, Penguin Random House, and Librería Nacional.

In addition, 145 exhibitors supported this edition of the event, including publishers, bookstores, distributors, self-published authors, and graphic arts companies. Complementing this were businesses and startups offering coffee, restaurants, ice cream shops, and other food services.

Likewise, the attendance of national and foreign tourists from Germany, Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Canada, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Spain and France was confirmed , who came to the event to learn about the wide variety of literature that the country possesses; as well as public from Antioquia, Nariño and Bogotá.

FIL Cali had the support of the Governorate of Valle, the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Knowledge and more than 15 Colombian universities and a large group of outstanding companies at the national and regional level, which make this an exemplary Fair as a model of alliance between the public, private and academic.

"Colombia's success as the Guest Country was a pause in the race to look at ourselves and remember what truly unites us. It allowed us to showcase those books, authors, themes, and publishers that are increasingly finding a focus on the immense diversity and complexity of Colombian culture," commented Paola Guevara, the fair's director, who must already be working on the challenging new edition for 2026, which will feature the Dominican Republic as the guest country.