About 35 Puerto Rican authors and more than fifteen guests from Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Indigenous communities and the Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States will take part in the second Intercultural Book Fair of Río Piedras (FIL RÍO 2026) in San Juan, organizers announced on Monday. The fair will run from November 16 to 19 at the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras campus (UPR-RP) and in the Río Piedras urban center, bringing together academics, artists, publishers, booksellers and local and international communities.
More than thirty independent bookstores and publishers will participate, and the program includes book presentations, panel discussions, workshops, film, exhibitions and artistic activities. It opens with the lecture "De la inmortalidad y otros mitos literarios" by Puerto Rican writer Ana Lydia Vega at the UPR-RP University Center, followed by performances by the groups Agua, Sol y Sereno, which will pay tribute to composer Tite Curet Alonso, and Plena Pal Pueblo.
A new "Pabellón Ecológico" will combine science, literature, education and community action through exhibits, workshops and interactive experiences on sustainability and environmental awareness. FIL RÍO 2026 will also present the campaign "Los rostros de la UPR son los rostros de los primeros," which seeks to raise funds to strengthen scholarships for first-generation university students. Events will be held at the University Center, the José M. Lázaro Library, the Faculty of Education and various spaces in the Río Piedras urban center.
This edition is dedicated to the memory of Juan Antonio Torres Martínez, a Faculty of General Studies professor who devoted almost forty years of service to the UPR, and of Elvis Ríos Resto, a 22-year-old student in the UPRRP Faculty of Humanities who died in July. Torres Martínez joined the Faculty of General Studies’ Spanish Department in 1985, taught there and was its director from 2017 to 2019, and served on various faculty committees and projects.
Organizers said he was also a tireless promoter of Puerto Rican literature and culture, organizing literary gatherings and cultural activities that brought renowned writers and intellectuals to the university community, and he collaborated on publishing projects with prominent Puerto Rican writers Olga Nolla and Rosario Ferré.