Two years after its last edition, the International Book Fair (FIL) returned to Havana. What for years has been the largest cultural event in Cuba suffered, like many other events, its suspension in 2021 due to the pandemicand then, at the beginning of this year, the regrowth caused by the Omicron variant put it in danger again.
However, this time it was enough to postpone it just two months and, instead of February -its traditional date-, finally opened its days last Wednesday. The visible improvement in the epidemiological situation on the island and the reactivation of international air traffic have allowed the Fair to return to the Cuban capital with representatives from thirty countries and more than 300 foreign guests associated with the world of literature.
Mexico, for the second time in the history of these meetings, is the guest of honor, and has arrived in Havana with an important artistic and literary embassy, with well-known figures and institutions of its culture, such as the writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II, the bolero singer Eugenia León and the National Folkloric Ballet.
In addition, the FIL is also dedicated to the Cuban intellectuals Alberto Prieto and Luis Álvarez, national winners of Social and Humanistic Sciences, and Literature, respectively; while paying tribute to deceased writers such as Nicolás Guillén, Carilda Oliver Labra and Jesús Orta Ruiz, “El Indio Naborí”.
Colloquiums, panels, book presentations, exhibitions, concerts and award ceremonies make up, among other actions, the program of the Fair, which once again has the fortress of San Carlos de La Cabaña, east of Havana, as its main venue. .
However, as a novelty, many activities are taking place this time in institutions of the Havana Historical Center, such as the Palace of the General Captains, the Palace of the Second Cape, the University of San Gerónimo and the “Rubén Martínez Villena” Library, in the Plaza of weapons.
These venues are joined by other spaces in the Cuban capital, such as the Cuba Pavilion, the Casa de las Américas, the Dulce María Loynaz Center and the so-called Finca de los Monos. In all these sites, and in many more, various activities are already being carried out, and more than 900 new publications and some four million books are for sale, with a greater presence in some sites than in others, according to official sources, and also other products that are usually marketed during fairs.
And precisely in relation to marketing is where the alarms of many go off, because in line with the so-called “monetary order” and the “adjustments” derived from it, the prices of many products and books seem unattainable. Not those of the Cuban state publishers, which maintain quite cheap prices —and more, if the current context marked by inflation is taken into account—, but the copies of foreign publishers and other imported products.
Even so, the FIL has reconvened the Cuban public, who have returned to La Cabaña and other venues of the event, not only to buy books but also to walk and share with the family, despite the recognized difficulties with public transport that currently crosses the capital.
One week still remains of the Fair in Havana. The quote of the lyrics will remain in session at its headquarters in the capital until April 30, and then, as usual, tour other cities in the Caribbean country and end in eastern Santiago de Cuba. Until then, literature and books will continue to summon all those who wish —and are able— to join their biggest treat on the Island.
