Porto Alegre Book Fair

The Porto Alegre Book Fair is a book fair held annually, between late October to mid-November, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It is the biggest open-space book fair in Latin America and the most important cultural event in Porto Alegre. The Porto Alegre Book Fair has been hosted in Porto Alegre downtown since its first edition. Nowadays, the Fair sprawls itself between the Alfândega Square, the Sepúlveda Avenue and some docks at Porto Alegre Harbor.

History
The Porto Alegre Book Fair was an idea from Say Marques, then manager of the Diário de Notícias newspaper. Marques wanted to make books available to the majority of the citizens, as bookshops were deemed to be snobbish. The first edition of the Book Fair had 14 book stands and it was inaugurated on November 16, 1955.

Patrons of the Porto Alegre Book Fair
There is a patron for the Fair since 1965. Selection of the Patron has two phases. In the first phase, each bookshop associated to the Rio-Grandense Book Chamber submits five names. In the second phase, the 10 most voted persons list is submitted to 88 persons arising from the cultural scene. The most voted shall be the Patron of the Porto Alegre Book Fair; in case of tie ballot, the eldest one shall be chosen.

List of Patrons

 * 1) 1965 - Alcides Maya
 * 2) 1966 - João Simões Lopes Neto
 * 3) 1967 - Alceu Wamosy
 * 4) 1968 - Caldas Júnior
 * 5) 1969 - Eduardo Guimaraens
 * 6) 1970 - Augusto Meyer
 * 7) 1971 - Manoelito de Ornellas
 * 8) 1972 - Luís Vaz de Camões
 * 9) 1973 - Darcy Azambuja
 * 10) 1974 - Leopoldo Bernardo Boeck
 * 11) 1975 - Athos Damasceno Ferreira
 * 12) 1976 - Erico Verissimo
 * 13) 1977 - Henrique Bertaso
 * 14) 1978 - Walter Spalding
 * 15) 1979 - Augustin Saint-Hilaire
 * 16) 1980 - Moysés Vellinho
 * 17) 1981 - Adão Juvenal de Souza
 * 18) 1982 - Reynaldo Moura e Monteiro Lobato
 * 19) 1983 - José Bertaso
 * 20) 1984 - Maurício Rosenblatt
 * 21) 1985 - Mario Quintana
 * 22) 1986 - Cyro Martins
 * 23) 1987 - Moacyr Scliar
 * 24) 1988 - Alberto André
 * 25) 1989 - Maria Dinorah
 * 26) 1990 - Guilhermino César
 * 27) 1991 - Luis Fernando Verissimo
 * 28) 1992 - Paulo Fontoura Gastal
 * 29) 1993 - Carlos Reverbel
 * 30) 1994 - Nelson Boeck, Edgardo Xavier, Mário de Almeida Lima e Sétimo Luizelli
 * 31) 1995 - Caio Fernando Abreu
 * 32) 1996 - Lya Luft
 * 33) 1997 - Luiz Antonio de Assis Brasil
 * 34) 1998 - Patrícia Bins
 * 35) 1999 - Décio Freitas
 * 36) 2000 - Barbosa Lessa
 * 37) 2001 - Armindo Trevisan
 * 38) 2002 - Ruy Carlos Ostermann
 * 39) 2003 - Walter Galvani
 * 40) 2004 - Donaldo Schüler
 * 41) 2005 - Friar Rovílio Costa