CBL drives advocacy, innovation and growth in Brazil’s book trade

Monday, 13 October 2025 Books+Publishing

As an Australian ISBN Agency representative, Andrew Wrathall attended the International ISBN Agency Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 16-17 September in São Paulo, Brazil. Wrathall reports on the keynote session by the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL), host of the AGM, which provided a glimpse into the Brazilian book industry.

Supporting the industry, supporting literacy
The Brazilian Book Chamber (Câmara Brasileira do Livro / CBL) is the largest voice of Brazil’s publishing sector, representing publishers, bookshops, printers and cultural groups.

CBL executive director Fernanda Garcia said the chamber maintains dialogue with partner organisations and engages with authorities in the capital city of Brasília and in the regional areas.

“We travel to Brasília, into parliament. Talk to the government and talk to the media. We do it every day,” said Garcia.

One of the important achievements of CBL has been securing constitutional protection to keep books tax-free, though this remains under constant threat. “We have to fight every day, because they want to change it. We had a good result two years ago, written inside the constitution to give a bit more security,” said Garcia.

The chamber is also leading the long-awaited National Book and Reading Plan, a 10-year framework developed with government and literature-related organisations to ensure the democratisation of access to books. Alongside this, CBL priorities include pushing for a Fixed Book Price Law (‘Lei Cortez’), defending freedom of publication, strengthening the National Program for School Textbooks, safeguarding copyright through international treaties, and monitoring the regulation of artificial intelligence.

Bringing people together
The biennial São Paulo International Book Fair (SPIBF) is organised by Reed Exhibitions (RX) in partnership with CBL. Most recently held in September 2024, the event drew 722,000 visitors across 13 cultural spaces and showcased 227 exhibitors, with sessions hosted by 683 authors, including 33 international authors.

Book vouchers are an important aspect of SPIBF, which encourages book buying. Book fair visitors are given book cashback vouchers when entering the event and can spend the vouchers on books at the stalls of participating exhibitors.

“It’s very big. We gave out 3 million vouchers at the book fair,” said Garcia.

Part of the ticket cost effectively returns to the visitor, encouraging both attendance and in-fair purchases. A total of BR 7.2 million (A$2m) was distributed from the 3 million vouchers, leading to book purchases averaging BR 208.14 (A$59.25).

The Editors, Booksellers, Distributors, and Printers Meeting (Encontro de Editores, Livreiros, Distribuidores e Gráficos) is run by CBL in August, before the SPIBF event. The three-day meeting is a professional development and networking event, which addresses topics relevant to publishing in Brazil. The 2024 event welcomed 433 participants for 20 panels and talks.

CBL also helps to promote the Rio Book Biennial, held on alternate years to SPIBF, with the most recent event held June 2025.

Recognition and achievement
The chamber runs the Jabuti Prize, Brazil’s leading literary award, with 22 categories.

“The Jabuti Award is the most important literature award, and we have a lot of applications for this prize,” said Garcia.

The 2024 winner for the Jabuti Prize Brazilian Book Published Abroad was The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer, published in the UK by Peirene Press and Companhia das Letras in Brazil. The LGBTQA+ novel tells the story of a boy who grows up in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro and is marked by tragedies that shape the course of his life.

The Book of the Year Award went to Always Paris (Sempre Paris) (Rosa Freire D’Aguiar, Companhia das Letras). The book also won in the “crônica” (chronicle) category, a genre in Brazilian literature which sits between journalism, memoir and reflective writing.

Innovation drives new technology
The ISBN Agency for Brazil changed over to CBL during the pandemic. The National Library in partnership with the Miguel de Cervantes Foundation had been running the agency, before CBL took over in March 2020.

The chamber improved the service by rolling out digital tools to simplify title registration processes. The new system integrates different services including ISBN, catalogue data, barcode, author rights to make the workflow smoother for users. Under the old system many steps were manual or less integrated, but CBL’s platform unifies the steps in one portal.

Responding to demands for uptake of new technologies, CBL launched a copyright registration service using a blockchain platform.

“People started to ask us to do it, so we created this copyright registration. It’s about work creation and contracts. You can register on our platform and use our blockchain technologies. They are safe, very easy, and we are very proud of our service,” said Garcia.

The platform reduced registration from 180 days to 5 minutes. These initiatives are designed to strengthen the infrastructure available to the book trade.

Looking to the future
Looking ahead, CBL recognises that the sector faces ongoing challenges. The school textbook program is not always fully funded by government, and the funding level requires negotiation.

“Sometimes it’s working. Sometimes you have to punch big, then you have the money to buy the books. Sometimes it’s not happening, so you have to talk every time,” said Garcia.

The rise of artificial intelligence is shifting the balance of power between publishers and global technology firms. Regarding AI, Garcia said, “The big tech companies have a lot of power, and we are trying to change it.”

These issues sit at the heart of CBL’s strategic goals, which combine advocacy, cultural promotion and service provision to ensure that Brazil’s publishing industry remains vibrant both nationally and internationally.

Category: Features