Successful Cuban Book Night with Literature, Music and…

Beginning shortly after noon, and lasting until the early hours of this morning, Havana’s 23rd Avenue (La Rampa), from its intersection with 14th Street to the Havana seafront, was the venue for 40 kiosks and stands where people could select titles from all genres. The list included two books by the late Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, winner of the 1998 Nobel Literature Prize.

The organizers of the event, which was sponsored by the Cuban Book Institute and the Union of Young Communists, chose 12 of the most popular books in Cuba's recent International Book Fair, including "The Shining Quetzal and Other Stories", by Canadian Margaret Atwood, "Tell Me How a Tree Is", by Spanish Marco Ana, and poetry by Cuban Roberto Fernandez Retamar.

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the first mass circulation on the island of "Don Quijote", a new edition of the book was presented in the park named after Cervantes's antihero.

All Cubans, especially children, the most privileged, enjoyed the arrival of summer with the traditional Night of the Books, which bring together writers, artists, athletes and people of all ages every July. For the fourth consecutive year, public squares and parks throughout the country became festive, with literary gatherings, poetry readings, children's shows, film screenings, troubadours, and outdoor concerts.