Guantanamo.- A press conference for the 34th edition of the Book Fair announced that the event will take place in Guantánamo from September 4 to 6. This year’s fair will be dedicated to the centennial of the birth of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz; the 80th birthday of Baracoan historian, author, and researcher Alejandro Hartmann Matos, recipient of the National Cultural Heritage Lifetime Achievement Award; and the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS).
During the meeting, Cecilia Elías Guerra, director of El Mar y la Montaña Publishing House, announced six new titles that the local publisher will present at this year’s fair: “Interior Monologue” by Lisette Magalys; “The Impossible Island and Other Women,” by Carlos Esquivel; “Guantánamo: Dialogued Narrations,” by Luis Morlote Ruiz; “Dream of Angels,” by Guantánamo writer Ana Luz García Calzada; the poetry collection “January Moon,” by José Raúl Fraguela; and “The First Invasion,” by Pedro Pablo Rodríguez.
Yuliet Heredia Suárez, director of the Provincial Center for Books and Literature, announced that this year’s program will include a section devoted to Fidel Castro Ruz, commemorating the centennial of his birth. The section will feature presentations by specialists, researchers, and authors from the Guantánamo branch of the Union of Historians of Cuba (UNHIC).
In addition, the Olimpia Sports Bar will host a bibliographic exhibition showcasing literature and cultural materials from the Russian Federation, the guest of honor at the 34th Book Fair.
As in previous years, the fair’s main sales area will be located along Calixto García Street, between Aguilera and Emilio Giro streets. Activities will also be held at the Provincial Committee of the Cuban Writers and Artists Association (UNEAC), the Ateneo Asdrúbal López Bookstore, the Ismaelillo Children’s Play Center, the Major General Pedro Agustín Pérez House Museum, and the Provincial Center of Houses of Culture. Outreach activities will also take place in schools and community centers.
The local branch of the Hermanos Saíz Association and the Cuba–Russia Studies Chair at the University of Guantánamo, together with other cultural institutions, will contribute artistic, academic, and literary activities to the fair’s program.
One of the highlights of this year’s event will be the province’s first-ever Booksellers’ Workshop, to be held at the Regino E. Boti Public Library.
The program will also include activities at the La Fama Literary Café in the Ateneo Asdrúbal López Bookstore, as well as exhibitions and presentations of children’s books.
These activities will be complemented by performances and initiatives from La Colmenita Guantánamo, the “Artesaneando con Yeny” sociocultural project, the Teatro Guiñol puppet theater group, and Compañía Danza Libre.
The fair will also feature the “Conquistando Lectores” (Cautivating Readers) cultural expeditions, which will bring literary activities to neighborhoods across the eastern city and to local schools.
