The first Book Popular Trade Fair organized by the CBL (Brazilian Book Chamber), in 1951, took place at Praça da República, in the effort of introducing in the country the European book trade fairs tradition found in France, Germany and Italy. In 1961, in a partnership with the Art Museum of São Paulo, the 1st International Book and Graphic Arts Biennial was promoted, which was repeated in 1963 and 65.
The 1st International Book Biennial, exclusively sponsored by CBL, was accomplished from August 15th to 30th, 1970, in the same building of the Arts Biennial; this first trade fair gathered some hundreds of national and foreign publishers and attracted thousands of people, adults, youths and children. Already in the 2nd Biennial, in 1972, the total visitors’ number reached 80 thousand and the exhibitors exceeded 700.
In 1996, in order to shelter even more exhibitors and provide more comfort to the public, it was transferred to Expo Center Norte. In view of the continuous public and exhibitors growth, in 2002, it was transferred to Centro de Exposições Imigrantes (with an area of 45 thousand square meters), until finally arriving, in 2006, at Anhembi, the Latin America largest exhibitions center. In 2008, the Biennial reached its 20th Edition and the infant-juvenile public was granted with the project Ler é a Minha Praia (Reading is My Beach).
Source: Brazilian Book Chamber website (www.cbl.org.br)