/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/LITERATURE-CUBA: International Book Fair Rivals Film Festival

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Jan 22 2002 (IPS) - The International Book Fair of Havana, which this year has been expanded to include 17 other Cuban cities, has become a rival of the world-renowned Havana Film Festival among the island’s most popular major cultural events.

Some five million books will be on sale at the eleventh Havana Book Fair, Feb 7-17, and at the fairs held in the Cuban interior Feb 18 to Mar 11.

“I told them at work that I want to take two vacation days in February,” said Rosalía González, 55, who also requests a week of vacation each December so she can “see good films” at the Havana Film Festival.

González, who says she is a voracious reader, considers the book fair a good opportunity to stock up, particularly on children’s books. She says, however, that one must go “with enough money for the prices and enough time to cover the entire site.”

This literary exposition and book sale has taken place the last few years in the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fort, an 18th century military structure that formed part of the Spanish colonialists defence in protecting its “most precious Caribbean jewel”.

The venue for the book fair, on the east side of Havana Bay, is part of the architectural complex designated a Heritage of Humanity site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and is somewhat distant from city centre.

But in spite of the distance, the tenth Havana Book Fair, held at the site last year, drew some 20,000 people, a total that will likely be surpassed this year, as the event has been expanded to cover nearly the entire country.

“People look forward to the fair like they do the film festival because it has made a name for itself, not only in books but also for the accompanying programme of events,” commented González, a Havana schoolteacher.

Book fair organisers reported that they are working with the city authorities to increase public transportation to and from the site, and that they are scheduling presentations, forums and conferences earlier in the day to encourage participation and so that no one is left stranded at night.

Book sales are to take place in 10 designated areas, covering an area of 1,700 square metres, while youth and children’s literature will be presented in three large tents and at 20 other points throughout the fort complex.

Two million of the five million books will be available at the Havana fair, while the rest will be distributed among the 17 other book fair venues throughout the country, from Pinar del Río in the west, to Guantánamo, in the extreme east, not to mention Nueva Gerona, located on the Isle of Youth.

“Without a doubt this will be the most encompassing and influential of the book fairs held so far,” commented poet Luis Suardíaz in a conversation with IPS. He stressed that the expansion of the exposition to other cities will encourage countrywide cultural exchange and movement.

At all locations, the programme for the International Book Fair, in addition to book sales, includes panel discussions on a wide range of topics as well as writer-reader conferences, said Suardíaz, one of the organisers.

The organisers are expecting 64 Cuban publishing houses to take part in the fair, as well as 44 others from 19 countries, including Spain, Italy, France and several from Latin America.

This year’s fair honours France, and will dedicate over 400 square metres of exhibition space to that country’s literature. Two contests will also take place, one for translations of French poetry into Spanish and one in which participants are to write an essay on the presence of French culture in Cuba.

Another highlight mentioned by the organisers will be the presentation of more than 400 titles published using digital techniques by publishers in the Cuban interior, books which until now were unknown beyond their places of origin.

Officials from the Cuban Institute of Books said that the fair facilitates linkages between Cuban literature and the publishing world of other countries.

Until the end of the 1980s, the transactions at book fairs involved the buying and selling of books between members of the now-defunct socialist bloc, the countries that were Cuba’s main trade partners.

In the 1990s, following the disappearance of the socialist bloc and the Soviet Union, the principal objective of the International Book Fair of Havana has been to seek new alternatives for collaborative projects and joint publishing efforts involving publishing houses from Cuba and the industrialised North.

The Cuban publishing industry has been hit hard by the economic crisis the island has been enduring since the early 1990s. Ten years ago, 20,000 to 30,000 copies of a title would be produced, but today the total reaches just 2,500 to 3,000.

However, there are some books that involve a much higher number of copies, such as the recently re-edited The Little Prince, by France’s Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and ‘Edad de Oro’ (Golden Age) by Cuba’s own José Martí (1853-1895).

Cuba has approximately 80 publishing houses, many of which have opted for working with foreign firms in an effort to breathe life into the book business.

One of the complaints heard most often among Cuban readers is that, since the free circulation of the dollar was authorised here in 1993, the “good literature” is only available on the parallel market and must be paid for in dollars.

Prior to the economic crisis in Cuba, the average book price was 80 cents, but today a popular title by a Cuban author can cost 20 to 25 pesos, nearly a dollar at the exchange rate of the parallel market, or equal to 20 to 25 dollars at the official one-to-one rate.

The average Cuban monthly salary is just over 220 pesos.

Cuban-published books at the fair can be purchased using pesos, but sales of food and beverages at the event will be in dollars.

“That will be a problem for those who want to spend the day visiting the entire exhibition and who don’t have an income in that currency, but people will go nonetheless,” said book enthusiast González.