17 Years and Counting: Havana International Book Fair
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- Arts and Culture
- Caribbean
- Culture and Traditions
- Havana
- Literature
- Personalities
- 02 / 27 / 2008
The figure, the largest in the last 10 years, is the strongest signal of the recovery of the local publishing industry.
The economic crisis in the '90s took its heaviest toll on the sector, with a dramatic decline of its annual production of 50 million books. Reports from the Cuban Book Institute currently set the number at 60 million, while the number of titles reaches the two thousand mark. The 17th edition of the Havana Book Fair is selling one thousand 300 titles, most of them issued by Cuban publishing houses.
Altogether, 145 publishing houses, 90 of them from all over the world, sent representatives to the event's main venue: the Morro-Cabaña Fortress Complex. Organizers have pledged to surpass last year's attendance of over six million people. And for that purpose, other 39 cities and localities will host the fair through March 9th. Santiago de Cuba, in eastern Cuba, will put an end to the 34-day event.
The second largest book fair in Latin America, following the Guadalajara event, the Havana Book Fair has attracted authors, musicians, artists, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, academics and intellectuals from 31 countries. The Spanish autonomous region of Galicia is this year's guest of honor, while Literature National Prize inductees Antón Arrufat and Graziella Pogolotti are the main figures.
Some of the most outstanding representatives of the Galician culture make up the region's delegation to the event, including authors Marcos Ana, Manuel Rivas, Xosé Neira Vilas, Marta Sanz and Lola Millás García, as well as singer Mercedes Peón, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
(www.cubanow.net)
The economic crisis in the '90s took its heaviest toll on the sector, with a dramatic decline of its annual production of 50 million books. Reports from the Cuban Book Institute currently set the number at 60 million, while the number of titles reaches the two thousand mark. The 17th edition of the Havana Book Fair is selling one thousand 300 titles, most of them issued by Cuban publishing houses.
Altogether, 145 publishing houses, 90 of them from all over the world, sent representatives to the event's main venue: the Morro-Cabaña Fortress Complex. Organizers have pledged to surpass last year's attendance of over six million people. And for that purpose, other 39 cities and localities will host the fair through March 9th. Santiago de Cuba, in eastern Cuba, will put an end to the 34-day event.
The second largest book fair in Latin America, following the Guadalajara event, the Havana Book Fair has attracted authors, musicians, artists, publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, academics and intellectuals from 31 countries. The Spanish autonomous region of Galicia is this year's guest of honor, while Literature National Prize inductees Antón Arrufat and Graziella Pogolotti are the main figures.
Some of the most outstanding representatives of the Galician culture make up the region's delegation to the event, including authors Marcos Ana, Manuel Rivas, Xosé Neira Vilas, Marta Sanz and Lola Millás García, as well as singer Mercedes Peón, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
(www.cubanow.net)
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