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the books which
were written by Divaldo Franco
through
psychography. At
the present
interview, he
talks about his
experience
involved in the
dissemination of
Spiritism
through books
and thrown an
event called
Megafeirão do
Livro de Santo
André.
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O Consolador:
The recent event
called 1st
Megafeirão de
Araras,
which tool place
in the city of
Araras in
November 2009 is
a copy of the
annual event
which already
happens in the
city of Santo
André. How the
idea of hosting
these massive
book fairs did
take place?
The events which
host these
massive book
fairs called
Megafeirão
are going on for
15 years in the
city of Santo
André. In 2010
we will be
hosting the 16th
book fair. This
idea came from
Miguel de Jesus
Sardano who is
the President
and Founder of
the centre
Centro Espírita
Bezerra de
Menezes. He
decided to host
these book fairs
in order to pay
homage to Chico
Xavier, our most
revered Medium,
in April 1995.
Since these
events have been
getting bigger
and bigger, we
started to call
them
Megafeirão do
Livro
(translation:
Massive Book
Fair).
O Consolador:
Can you please
tell us more
about the
structure and
the logistics of
the event?
It is an event
which involves
more than 300
people, if we
count all the
employees,
volunteers and
publishing
houses
representatives.
There are more
than 120
publishing
houses, 150.000
different copies
which are
referring to
more than 6.000
titles.
O Consolador:
What are the
biggest
challenges faced
in Santo André
and now in
Araras?
The logistics
side is quite
challenging, as
well as getting
a good
percentage of
discount for
each item. In
the city of
Santo André our
biggest
challenge was
space. We hosted
it at an
Institution
called Amélia
Rodrigues
which is quite
big, but not
enough to attend
the demand we
had. In the city
of Araras this
was not a
challenge for
us, as there was
much more space
for the event.
O Consolador:
How has the
receptivity been
within the
spiritist
movement?
We have received
many complements
from the
movement due to
the
organization,
discounts given
and the amount
of titles
available.
O Consolador:
Have you done
any research
with the events
you hosted?
Most of the
people who take
part on these
events buy the
books for
themselves or to
give them as
presents.
O Consolador:
How many
publishing
companies have
taken part on
these events?
In 2009 100
publishing
companies took
part on this
event.
O Consolador:
How many books
are being sold
and showed at
these events?
In 2009 we sold
39.000 books in
the city of
Santo André;
over 6.000
titles were
showed in this
event. In the
city of Araras
we sold around
7.000 books;
exposing over
4.000 titles.
O Consolador:
Has the
experience
involving
lectures been
positive within
the events?
We never had
lectures before.
We did it at the
first time in
the city of
Araras, which
was really
successful.
O Consolador: Do
you believe this
event has helped
to disseminate
new
publications?
I believe this
has helped not
just to
disseminate new
publications,
but also to
disseminate the
spiritist
doctrine.
O Consolador: Do
you plan to
expand these
events to other
regions?
We are studying
the possibility
to host this
event at other
regions, since
we have received
several invites
from different
cities.
O Consolador:
Can you please
give us your
final words?
The mission of
our Institution
– Spiritist
Centre Dr.
Bezerra de
Menezes – is to
disseminate as
best as we can
the spiritist
doctrine. That’s
the reason why
we organise the
event called
Megafeirão,
which is not for
profit. We offer
spiritist,
spiritualist and
self-help books
at reasonable
prices so that
more and more
people have
access to the
spiritist
literature.
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