Brazil is the featured country at this year's fair. Those entering the exhibition pass through a pavilion festively decorated with hundreds of birds found in Brazil. There are special displays of Brazilian books and magazines, a buffet of Brazilian food, and nightly concerts and dance programs with artists from the South American country.

Each year organizers present a writer with the Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature. This year's went to Mexican writer Juan García Ponce, author of poetry, plays, stories, novels, and essays.

More than 300 Mexican publishers are here along with others from throughout Latin America, the United States, and Canada. A large number of publishers came from Spain, and others are here from Germany and Britain. The Publishers Association of Japan has a booth at the fair for the first time in five years.

The fair is open to the public the first two of its nine days. Three days are devoted to the book publishing trade, allowing librarians, distributors, and publishers to concentrate on business. The rest of the days, and every evening, are open to the public.  
 
Interest in Pathfinder books
Pathfinder Press has a booth for the entire fair. Representatives from the New York–based publishing house are meeting with distributors and book buyers from Mexico and other countries and introducing the publishing house's range of titles to many librarians from the United States.

In the first two days, a team of Pathfinder representatives from New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and North Carolina sold 125 books. There was broad interest in political discussion, especially among students and young workers passing through the fair. Many people wanted to talk about the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the growing worldwide economic crisis and to read the explanation of these developments presented in many Pathfinder books.

Pathfinder titles point out that the wars and assaults on working people stem from the natural workings of imperialism in the world that has been unfolding long before September 11.

The book Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium by Jack Barnes drew a lot of attention. Many who stopped by the booth thought this was a particularly timely title.

Some people wanted to discuss the increased attacks on workers' rights and living conditions within the United States. Pathfinder supporters staffing the booth pointed to a section of Cuba and the Coming American Revolution by Jack Barnes that explains how these attacks by the U.S. ruling class have increased over the last five years. Books on the Cuban Revolution also continue to be very popular. The first book many people picked up was Che Guevara Talks to Young People.

Pathfinder's best-seller so far is the booklet The Working-Class and the Transformation of Learning: The Fraud of Education Reform under Capitalism, with 17 copies sold. The next titles on the list are Cuba and the Coming American Revolution, which 12 people bought, and 11 copies of Che Guevara Talks to Young People. All three titles are available in Spanish. Six people bought copies of Capitalism's World Disorder and five got Nueva Internacional no. 5 featuring "U.S. Imperialism Has Lost the Cold War." Another five people bought U.S. Hands off the Mideast! Cuba Speaks Out at the United Nations, registering the interest in Pathfinder titles on the Middle East.  
 
Women's liberation
One of the new titles available in Spanish this year is Women's Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara, leader of the 1983–87 revolution in Burkina Faso. Eight copies have been sold so far, putting it fourth on Pathfinder's "bestseller" list. There is real interest in titles on the fight for women's rights. Three people bought Abortion: a Woman's Right to Choose in Spanish, and one person got Problems of Women's Liberation and Is Biology Woman's Destiny? in English, both by Evelyn Reed. A growing number of titles were sold in English, compared to the previous two years.

Several young people are visiting the Pathfinder stand for the second or third year in a row, saying, "I bought this book last year, what else do you have?" There are also many new young people and others who are pleasantly surprised to see the display of these books, especially coming from the United States. Some spend half an hour, or much more, looking through the books and talking with members of the team staffing the booth. Four people have bought copies of the pamphlet Pathfinder Was Born with the October Revolution to learn where Pathfinder Press comes from, what it publishes, and why.

Among the visitors at the Pathfinder booth during the first weekend of the fair was a student from Guadalajara whose brother is a restaurant worker in New Jersey and is looking for political activity in that area. The student exchanged e-mails with a member of the Young Socialists who was staffing the booth. This was not uncommon--many young people wanted to learn about the YS. Staffers pointed them to the article, "Aims of the Young Socialists" in Nueva Internacional no. 5.

Two young people involved in a cultural society in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato spent more than an hour at the Pathfinder booth discussing the struggles of workers and peasants in Mexico and working-class fights in the United States. They said last year they organized reading and discussion on speeches by Cuban revolutionary leaders Ernesto Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, which attracted workers from the area. They got a copy of Perspectiva Mundial and took two Pathfinder catalogs to mark up, in order to come back and buy some books before the end of the fair.

Early on the first day a young worker in a restaurant at the fair visited the Pathfinder booth. He came back that evening with two co-workers to show them the books and buy Capitalism's World Disorder.

A chemical engineer who works in a textile factory an hour and a half from Guadalajara visited the booth on his own and then with his wife. He said there have been substantial layoffs in his plant, typical in that industry in both Mexico and the United States. After discussing the possibility to transform the unions into revolutionary instruments of struggle, he bought The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions in Spanish.

Many discussions when selling Pathfinder books take up the crisis facing farmers in the United States. A lot of Mexicans are surprised to learn that small farmers in the United States, like their counterparts in Mexico, are being pushed off the land. An especially helpful section in Cuba and the Coming American Revolution takes up the challenge of closing the gap between town and country. It points to the example of the Cuban Revolution in meeting this challenge, from the literacy campaign to the land reform.

Programs this year include presentations of a number of books on the theme of "globalization." There will also be a "Chicano Encounter," including discussions on Chicano literature and immigration between Mexico and the United States.

Under the umbrella of the Cuban Book Chamber, an array of Cuba publishers exhibit at an expanded booth, several of which will be presenting some of their newest titles at this year's fair. In 2002, Cuba will be the book fair's honored country.  
 
 
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