The 46th edition of the International Book Fair of Buenos Aires (Filba), which has Havana as Guest of Honor, was inaugurated this Thursday at the La Rural exhibition center in the Argentine capital.
«We are deeply happy that the Cuban capital is the guest in this edition of Filba. Great women and men were born there, among them, Jose Martia figure that unites our peoples through the preaching of human betterment,” said Tristán Bauer, Argentine culture minister, during the inauguration, according to an office from the agency Latin Press (LP).
In the act, Bauer highlighted the importance of the appointment as a space that unites professionals and the public and sustains the passion of reading, adds the medium.
“Books cannot be luxury items. We hope that each child meets them and can open windows to new possible worlds,” added the minister, for whom cultures are vital for peoples, “because they guide us in the present by pointing out where we come from and what our history is.” .
In addition, he pointed out “the challenge” of building “a world where the words social justice, equality, democracy, human rights and solidarity are not sick or tired, but are strengthened and are a driving force,” he reports. PL.
With the presence of authorities, Argentine and Cuban friends, the stand of #Cuba, at FILBA, Havana invited city. Visit us at the yellow pavilion, La Rural. Don’t miss Saturday 30th, 10pm, Havana Day Concert, Sala José Hernández. https://t.co/qGF4U5CVqV
— Cuba-ARG Consulate (@ConsulCuba_ARG) April 29, 2022
Meanwhile, Tatiana Viera, representative of the island’s delegation to the event, said that Cuba brought Filba “its customs, culture and an interesting artistic proposal,” she points out. another office of the news agency.
Viera, coordinator of Objectives and Programs of the Provincial Government of Havana, thanked the Cuban capital for being named Guest of Honor City and highlighted the relevance of the Fair, considered one of the most important of its kind in Latin America.
“We will show more than a million people who will visit this venue starting today (Thursday), the best of the Cuban capital, which Ernest Hemingway fell in love with during his long writing season,” he said, quoted by PL.
The official affirmed that in the Cuban delegation to Buenos Aires traveled “the respectful reincarnation” of authors such as Martí, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Virgilio Piñera and Alejo Carpentier. “With us comes the whole story enriched with contemporary publications and the heart, still beating in the streets of Havana, of her faithful lover, Eusebio Leal“, he added.
He also assured that Filba is a sign of the good will to unite the cultures of the peoples and thanked the collaboration of the Fundación El Libro, from Argentina, for the participation of the Island in the exhibition sample and in the programs for authors and professionals. , limits the agency.
The official recalled that since 1982, Havana has organized another of the most important fairs in the region, where every year the editorial production of the Island and Latin America is presented, whose thirtieth edition is currently taking place, and pays tribute to Carilda Oliver, Jesús Orta Ruiz and Nicholas Guillen.
In addition to the official Cuban proposal, in Filba you can find books by Cuban writers exiled or based in various parts of the world, including Argentina, as well as some authors based in Cuba, but who remain radically disassociated from the Government of the Island.
In general, for 19 days, the gigantic Rural property will host the long-awaited reunion between writers and the public after two years of pandemic. On this occasion, the event will feature more than 1,500 cultural activities, including hundreds of book presentations, literary workshops and debate tables, according to a dispatch from the agency EFE.
To encourage the influx of the largest possible number of visitors, the organizers adopted a large number of sanitary measures, such as the widening of the streets and avenues of the fair, the implementation of an open-air space for the signatures of the most popular writers and the limitation of acts to disinfect and ventilate the different rooms, adds the report.
Nearly 200 foreign authors will travel to Buenos Aires to participate in the event, including Peruvian Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa, who will present his latest book, the still gaze, about the life of Emilio Pérez Galdós. In addition, there will be, among others, the American crime novel best-seller John Katzenbach, the Chilean narrator Diamela Eltit and the Spanish poet Luis García Montero, who will lead an act in honor of the late Almudena Grandes.
