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16TH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR CUBA
2007
Book fiesta continues in 39 other
cities
• 2008 edition dedicated to
Graziella Pogolotti and
Antón Arrufat • Galicia guest of honor
BY MIREYA CASTAÑEDA—Granma International
staff writer—
MORE
than 600,000 people visited the opening venue of the
Book Fair, the San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress and
avid readers acquired 1,493,000 copies of the 3,000
titles placed at their disposition this year.
These are only the figures for its stay in Havana,
in the first 10 days of the Book Fair (February 8 to
18), because it is now continuing its course through
39 other cities in the country, to end on March 11
in Santiago de Cuba.
“The
Fair,” its president, Iroel Sánchez reflected, “has
become the most significant event of the Cuban
publishing movement since its first edition in
1982.”
Sánchez referred to the diversity of titles
available to readers – more than 3,000 – a wide
diversity of branches of human knowledge and noted
that Cien Horas con Fidel (One Hundred Hours
with Fidel) by Hispano-French writer Ignacio Ramonet
was the most sought-after volume, acquired by 32,000
people.
Other books pursued by readers included Tinísima
(Essentially Tina), launched by its author Mexican
Elena Poniatowska, and Polo Montañez, café amarga
con salvia (Polo Montañez, Bitter Coffee with
Sage), by Marisol Ramírez, without mentioning
literature for children and young adults.
Havana residents received, free of charge, five
anthologies of Argentine writers (250,000 copies),
especially edited for the Fair, given that that
country was the guest of honor this year. Much
sought after in the book stores were the works of
Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar.
The
Fair’s president also observed that this edition has
been “that of the greatest international
participation that we have ever had,” with the
presence of some 700 invited publishing houses from
32 countries.
In
the Cabaña pavilions 82 foreign publishing houses
exhibited and sold (in freely convertible currency)
alongside 53 Cuban ones (in national currency).
GALICIA HONORED AND PROUD
In
the final encounter of the Havana Fair, Luis Bará,
director of culture of the Galicia Junta, said that
“it is a great pride and a great honor for the
autonomous government and people of Galicia to be
the guest of honor” next year.
“For
us, 2008 will be a great challenge because we
understand that it is a magnificent opportunity to
rediscover that historical and intense relationship
between Galicia and Cuba,” Bará added.
Abel
Prieto, Cuban minister of culture, recalled the
presence on the island of the Galician writer José
Neira Vilas and his wife, Cuban Anisia Miranda, both
currently living in Galicia, and referred to the 48
Galician societies existing in Cuba, including the
one that bears the name of the poet Rosalía de
Castro.
Prieto took advantage of the occasion to ask the
president of the Cuban Book Institute to find a
special area for the sale of food in the 2008
edition, as this year the outlets were right outside
the rooms for book launches and conferences.
“It
has been a struggle between the nutrition of the
soul and that of the body,” said the minister to the
laughter of those attending the closing session.
As
announced by Iroel Sánchez, president of the Fair
and the Cuban Book Institute, the 2008 edition is to
be dedicated to National Literature Prize winners
Graziella Pogolotti and Antón Arrufat, together with
literature from Galicia, guest country of honor.
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