Milei phenomenon dominates 49th edition of Buenos Aires book fair

"Why did Milei win?" asks the title of one of the talks at the Feria Internacional del Libro de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires International Book Fair).

This year’s edition of the fair – the 49th – has been flooded with publications trying to make sense of the Milei phenomenon, which has shaken up Argentina ever since the ultra-liberal president took office in December 2023.

At the more than 500 stands of the fair's 49th edition, more than 20 books on Javier Milei are on display and available for sale.

That number grows significantly if one includes publications focused on the global rise of the right, as well as works by writers close to the government who seek to give intellectual backing to its battle against "woke culture" and "the caste."

“There are so many books about this because they sell,” explains Victoria Gerz, a 32-year-old entrepreneur who makes book covers.

“He’s the President – whether you support him or not, he’s the topic of the moment,” she said before attending a presentation of one of the biographies about the head of state.

Most of the books take a critical stance: El síntoma Milei. Notas para una Argentina fallida (“The Milei Symptom. Notes for a Failed Argentina”), by political scientist Hernán Brienza; Desquiciados (“Unhinged”) by anthropologist Alejandro Grimson; or the anthology collection El goce de la crueldad: Argentina en tiempos de Milei (“The Pleasure of Cruelty: Argentina in the Time of Milei”) – the titles speak for themselves.

“There are books [about Milei] that are journalistic or investigative, but also books that lean more towards fiction — and they’re all trying to find answers,” said writer Claudia Piñeiro.

Explanations

For Piñeiro, Milei “is a figure everyone wants to understand, and one way to do that is through the stories being told.”

Piñeiro was among the speakers at the launch of Milei. Una historia del presente (“Milei. A Story of the Present”), by journalist Ernesto Tenenbaum. The book traces the libertarian’s life and his meteoric rise to the Presidency.

The event drew some 1,000 people to the fair’s largest hall.

In his book, Tenenbaum describes Milei as a "conduit for everyone’s rage," who became "in just seven years, Argentina’s President and then something of a global celebrity, perhaps one of the most successful careers in human history."

At the launch, Tenenbaum slammed Milei’s government for its "will to dominate" and repeated attacks on journalists and dissenters – including the author himself.

Over the past week, the President has repeatedly posted the phrase “people don’t hate journalists enough,” often accompanied by insults.

The contrasts on the show floor are striking: just steps from feminist publishers’ stands, bright signs advertise Globalismo (“Globalism”), a book by ultraconservative writer Agustín Laje – one of Milei’s favourite authors.

At his presentation at the book fair, Laje railed against the state and supranational organisations and called for a "cultural battle" to be waged on social media.

“Everyone has a moral and political responsibility to make themselves heard. But alongside the cultural battle, we must drive forward our electoral battles,” he added to applause from government officials and libertarian influencers.

Consumption

The economy is also front and centre in the fair’s debates: Buenos Aires Province Governor and opposition economist Axel Kicillof is set to present Volver a Keynes (“Return to Keynes”), a near-direct response to one of Milei’s own previous titles: Desenmascarando la mentira keynesiana (“Unmasking the Keynesian Lie”).

The fair, which runs until May 12, has maintained its tradition of massive turnout, with queues stretching for blocks.

Many visitors, however, leave with fewer bags in hand than usual – the country has seen 16 straight months of falling consumption.

At the fair’s opening on April 24, Christian Rainone – the president of Fundación El Libro, the event’s organiser – noted that although book sales rose in the first two months of the year, they have "still not recovered from the drop ... in 2024, which reached 30 percent."

Minutes later, Culture Minister Leonardo Cifelli praised the fair’s leadership for its "decision to move past a confrontational and politicised tone" — and was promptly met with boos from a crowd of writers, publishers and booksellers.

The jeering grew louder when the minister mentioned the President and his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei.

Last year, the fair drew close to a million visitors. Organisers expect similar numbers this time around.