Guantanamo.- In a day that combined art, education, and community engagement, literature specialists Noel Mendoza Calzado and Jesús Coiy Rodríguez, from the Diósmedes Silveria Valdés Cultural Center, took to the streets of the chief town, in the municipality of El Salvador, in Guantanamo Province, to bring the literary word directly to young people.
Under the symbolic name of a “literary crusade,” the writers read excerpts from Cuban and international works in open spaces, where he captured the attention of teenagers who regularly pass through the main street.
The initiative, which took place in the town center, sought to break down the barriers between books and the casual reader. The specialists alternated readings from José Lezama Lima, Dulce María Loynaz, and Onelio Jorge Cardoso with passages from García Márquez, Benedetti, and excerpts from classic Russian and French literature.
“It’s not about imposing readings, but about sparking wonder,” explained Mendoza Calzado, who also emphasized the need to encourage young people’s reading habits in which leisure time is often dominated by audiovisual communication.
For his part, Jesús Coiy Rodríguez highlighted the immediate response from young people, many of whom approached out of curiosity and ended up actively participating. “Some asked for recommendations, others shared verses they remembered from school. The essential thing is that books became a topic of conversation on the street again,” he noted.
The activity is part of a broader program by the Diómedes Silveria Valdés House of Culture to decentralize access to literature, especially among younger generations. The specialists announced that the literary campaign will continue in other neighborhoods of the municipality of El Salvador and will include creative writing and storytelling workshops.
