How could March 31st not be Cuban Book Day! What other date could it be, if not the one that marks the founding of the National Printing Office, just three months after the revolutionary triumph?
Next to a large bookshelf, filled mostly with Cuban books, these lines are born, once again recalling the event, a fact that would be forged in a scene of desolation, in which the first step to transform it would be to teach a noble, long-suffering, and illiterate people to read and write, and then place new knowledge in their hands, through books.
My children now hear the sound of the keys. As I write, I think of those first books that came into my hands, many as prizes for winning a sack race in a street game organized by the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs); or as birthday gifts with beautiful dedications, like those my grandfather wrote for me; or as a response to the little girl who would ask her father, "What did you bring me?" and pull a book from his briefcase. Some of those are here, like the book Fábulas (Fables), first published in 1973 by Gente Nueva publishing house; or the book Oros Viejos (Old Gold), from 1974, to name just a few.
Also from that era—and inherited later like the treasures they are—are the books my father, then a voracious young man, devoured all kinds of reading material.
Listing them all would be endless, not only the books preserved from those years, but also those that arrived later. Many lives could be recounted through the readings that took place as the books came off the press.
It wasn't the work of miraculous events, or rather, it was the work of a miracle called the Revolution, which cost much sacrifice and was carried out by humble yet great people, convinced that it was essential to change the environment, including the cultural scene.
THE REVOLUTION WAS ALSO ABOUT PUTTING BOOKS IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE
Speaking of books, none compare to Fidel and the Cuban publishing industry: a Revolution through literature—an idea originally conceived by Juan Rodríguez Cabrera, president of the Cuban Book Institute, and signed by Francisca López Civeira and Fabio Enrique Fernández Batista, recounts the transformative process that this dream entailed.
"In January 1959, the triumphant Revolution found itself, among other horrors, in a country marked by its fragile publishing industry (…). The country that some try to present as the absolute representation of progress manifested here another of its structural fallacies. It took the whirlwind of revolutionary change for the existing complex reality to be altered."
To transform the people's spirituality, it was necessary to know how to read, and it was necessary to create books. The glorious Literacy Campaign is well known, having succeeded in erasing from the face of the Island the ignominy of illiteracy.
Protected by Law 187 and attached to the Ministry of Education, the National Printing Office of Cuba was created on March 31st. The renowned novelist Alejo Carpentier was appointed to manage the Popular Books Publishing House in Cuba, and he encouraged the creation of Cuban book festivals. A vibrant atmosphere ensued, as described by the various intellectuals who witnessed this momentous undertaking.
In 1960, defying obstacles and windmills, like the protagonist of the work, Cervantes's *Don Quixote* toured the island with a print run of 100,000 copies, priced at 25 cents each, and with which the People's Library was inaugurated.
The history of the Cuban book is captivating. What has been described so far is merely its beginning. The aforementioned title tells this story very well, and in our opinion, we highly recommend reading it.
Fidel knew well what it meant for the people to read books. That colossal idea, shared in April 1961 at the conclusion of an academic event, dispelled all doubt for the skeptics. "We don't tell the people: Believe! We tell them: Read!" And with that, he urged Cubans to find the truth in books. The genesis of that purpose was born, for the good of this incredible island, on a day like today, March 31st, the date on which Cuban Book Day is rightfully celebrated.
