Havana Book Fair

The 20th International Book Fair in Cuba opens Thursday at Havana's Morro-Cabaña Park, with more than 200 guests from 41 countries, including Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu.

Awaited every year by Cuban readers, this year's fair will honor the cultures of eight countries that make up the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America and the Bicentenary of the first stage of Latin American and Caribbean independence.

The event will also honor Cuban writer and journalist Jaime Sarusky, winner of 2004 National Literature Award, and philosopher and historian Fernando Martinez Heredia, winner of the 2006 National Social Science award.

As a new feature this year, fair venues include 10 different sites around the capital, such as the Casa de las Americas cultural institution, the ALBA House of Culture, the Dulce Maria Loynaz Center, and the Jose Marti Cultural Society.

One of the venues, the Pabellon Cuba on La Rampa, is especially devoted to young people. In addition to Rigoberta Menchu, other guests are Brazilian theologian Frei Betto, Mexican writer Pablo Ignacio Taibo II, Jamaican essayist and poet Keith Ellis, Argentine writer Vicente Battista, Belgian political scientist Eric Toussaint, French professor Herve Fischer, and culture ministers from several nations.

Some 160 different foreign and national publishing houses will be represented at this event.

At least 4.5 million books, including 515 new titles, will be put available for sale on the island during the 25 days of the fair.

After the first 10 days in Havana, the fair will be held in the rest of the provinces, and closing events will take place in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.

The academic/literary program includes panels, colloquiums, round tables, forums and debates on current issues, such as a meeting with young writers from the continent, and anti-war poetry readings, Voices Against Nuclear War.