International Book Fair
www.granma.cu Havana. January 24, 2003 BY OMAR PERDOMO -Special for Granma International -
WHAT makes the 12th International Book Fair of Havana (January 30 to February 9, in the San Carlos de la Cabaña complex) different from previous years, is its extension to 29 other Cuban towns, making it the only one of its kind in the world.
Taking the fair outside of the capital is nothing new as, at President Fidel Castro’s suggestion, last year’s event traveled to 19 towns up and down the country. This year a further 11 locations have been included and following its stint at the Morro-Cabaña complex, it will move onto Pinar del Río, followed by Consolación del Sur, San Antonio de los Baños, San José de las Lajas, Artemisa, Matanzas, Cárdenas, Cienfuegos, Cumanayagua, Santa Clara, Sagua de la Grande, Sancti Spíritus, Trinidad, Ciego de Avila, Morón, Camagüey, Nuevitas, Florida, Las Tunas, Puerto Padre, Holguín, Moa, Bayamo, Manzanillo, Santiago de Cuba (here, as in 2002, the fair will be brought to a close), Palma Soriano, Guantánamo, Baracoa, and Nueva Gerona, (capital of the Isle of Youth special municipality).
Together with the new locations, the number of foreign exhibitors, exhibition areas and foreign and Cuban publishing houses participating in the event has risen this year. Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (Andean Community members and guests of honor at this year’s event) as well as Mexico and Spain, have reserved display stands of up to 360 square meters. Likewise, our own Editorales Cubanas is enlarging its stand from last year’s 120 square meters to 180 square meters.
One of the special attractions of the International Book Fair of Havana & Cuba is the presence of authors from other nations. This year, two important U.S. intellectuals will attend: William Kennedy (Albany, New York, 1928), writer, scriptwriter, professor of literature and playwright who won the coveted Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for his novel Ironweed. The Arte y Literatura publishing house is launching his new novel Roscoe, one the Top Ten books of 2002, according to a survey by The New York Times Book Review; and Russell Banks (New Hampshire, 1940) whose novel Affliction, one of the most relevant works in the contemporary U.S. literary panorama, will also be presented at the fair.
Other authors invited to the event include Justo Jorge Padrón and Fernando Aínsa (Spain), Ecuadorian Jorge Enrique Adoum (with his novel De cerca y de memoria (Close Up and From Memory) and whose first work was also launched by Arte y Literatura), Luis Britto García (Venezuela), William Ospina (Colombia), Miguel Bonasso (Argentina), Hildebrando Pérez (Peru), Luis Suárez (Mexico) and Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner.
The literary program also includes a variety of new Cuban publications including works by Nicolás Guillén, Cintio Vitier, Pablo Armando Fernández (to whom this year’s Fair is dedicated), Lisandro Otero (National Literary Award winner of 2002), Fina García-Marruz and Nancy Morejón.