by Mario Vargas Llosa, which generated political turmoil in Argentina. Vargas Llosa had criticized the policies and alleged corruption of the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and some Argentine intellectuals, including National Library director Horacio González, requested to prevent his presence. Kirchner instructed them to give up such requests, and Vargas Llosa opened the fair as planned. Nevertheless, ministers Aníbal Fernández and Florencio Randazzo made further critics hours before the speech. Vargas Llosa thanked the president for her intervention during his speech, which had not incidents. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina and the national quarantine made a 2020 edition impossible. Initially, it was delayed on March 18. As the pandemic and the quarantine extended in time, it was held in internet instead. It lasted for three weeks, and was seen by 180,000 people at the home page, and the videos in the official Youtube channel had 53,000 views. There was no fair in 2021 either, and people attended other smaller fairs instead. The standard book fair returned in 2022. Famous visitors The fair has been visited by many noteworthy foreign authors, such as Paul Auster, Ray Bradbury, Italo Calvino, Susan Sontag, Camilo José Cela, José Saramago, Mario Vargas Llosa, Muhammad Yunus, Tom Wolfe, Brian Aldiss, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Ángeles Mastretta, Rosa Montero, J. M. Coetzee, J. M. G. Le Clézio, Fernando Savater, Roger Chartier, Julián Marías, John Katzenbach, Claudio Magris, Isabel Allende, Arturo Pérez Reverte and Wilbur Smith. Argentine authors like Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Silvina Bullrich, Marco Denevi, Tomás Eloy Martínez, Roberto Fontanarrosa, Beatriz Guido, Manuel Mujica Láinez, Olga Orozco, Quino and Ernesto Sábato were regular visitors of the fair as well. Gallery References External links Buenos Aires International Book Expo Official Website Buenos Aires Recurring events established in 1975 Culture in Buenos Aires Tourist attractions in Buenos Aires Autumn events in Argentina