This program, moved by the need to spread and preserve Argentinean and Latin American literature, provides a meeting place and a setting for the dialogue between the public and key literary, philosophical, artistic figures, as well as other celebrities from the contemporary cultural scene.

Right from the start, numerous writers and intellectuals have presented books, given conferences, courses and seminars, and taken part in congresses and events in homage to various figures. The variety and excellence of these events has given some twenty thousand people the chance to meet a number of writers, philosophers and critics at close quarters.

malba.literature has focused on promoting Argentinean writers, be they recognized authors or lesser known talents.  Juan José Saer, Isidoro Blaisten, Andrés Rivera, Luisa Valenzuela, Abelardo Castillo, Sylvia Iparraguirre, Tomás Eloy Martínez, Vlady Kociancich, Santiago Kovadloff, María Esther de Miguel, Cristina Piña, Josefina Delgado, Mario Goloboff, Ana María Shúa, Ivonne Bordelois, Angélica Gorodischer, Vicente Batista, Griselda Gambaro, Rodolfo Fogwill, Eduardo Berti, Gonzalo Garcés, Leopoldo Brizuela, and thinkers such as Juan José Sebrelli or humorists such as Quino and Caloi, among many others, have been the prestigious protagonists of these literary encounters.

When authors from other latitudes accept invitations from malba.literature, they enrich the literary map, as did Paul Auster with his seminar “Inanimate Objects.  Experienced emotions. Observations on cinematic narration”, which initiated year 2002 activities to resounding effect.  José Saramago, 1998 winner of the Nobel Literature Prize, and Slovakian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, who presented a seminar and a conference on two different occasions, also crammed the Museum’s auditorium capacity. In 2004 we welcomed David Lodge, one of the most important contemporary writers, Fernando Savater, the renowned thinker from Spain, and well-known screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami.

Argentina’s poetry has also found a means for reaching audiences through poets such as Diana Bellesi or through group presentations such as Arte de Tapa, poesía + plástica (Cover Art, poetry and visual art) through which eighteen books of poetry by contemporary authors were selected.  This project was supported by the Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Dirección General del Libro y Promoción de la Lectura department, and more than eighty creators took part.

This summary of our activities would not be complete without mentioning the Congreso de Escritoras Latinoamericanas, in which more than forty narrative writers, poets and literary critics took part; the British Council’s Words on Words program, a specialized seminar on contemporary British literature, run by experts who shared workshops and an innovative teaching method with the public; the LiterAr project, consisting of a joint book presentation bringing together authors, publishers and readers; as well as the children’s literary activities that are held every year during winter school vacations, including exceptional musical shows and oral narrative events.

malba.literature carries out joint projects with embassies, specialized periodicals and publishers, and offers its support to institutions such as the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), the Instituto de Lingüística (Institute of Linguistics) and the Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Género (Interdisciplinary Institute of Genre Studies), the latter two being part of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, in relation to which the Museum served as headquarters for the Congreso Internacional Políticas Culturales and for the homage to Silvina Ocampo.

The quality of the material gathered through encounters with writers, presentations, conferences, events in homage, courses and seminars led to the publication of the first volume of Literatura en Malba. Encuentros con escritores (Literature in Malba.  Encounters with Writers), a bilingual compilation that covers the events held over the course of this area’s first two years of activity.