SANTIAGO DE CUBA.– Like a miracle, the 34th edition of the International Book and Literature Fair took place, managing to "overcome the extreme intensification of the blockade to offer Cuban families, as far as possible, this celebration of literature that honors its founder, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, in the year of his Centennial."
This is what the President of the Cuban Book Institute (ICC), Juan Rodríguez Cabrera, said at the closing of the country's main cultural event, which, from August 10th—when it opened its doors to the reading public—until its closing, "sold more than two million copies, some 1,800 new publications, and held thousands of activities with the participation of more than 700,000 people."
The decision not to cancel the 34th edition of the Book Fair, albeit in a smaller format, made it clear once again that the Cuban State is unwavering in its commitment to preserving culture. The event also enjoyed the assistance, support, and recognition of friends from 36 countries, especially the Russian Federation, "to whose governmental and cultural institutions we express our deepest gratitude," Rodríguez Cabrera stated.
During the event, the Cuba digital project developed its eighth edition, as an advanced one "that is consolidated to bring hundreds of thousands of books in this format to Cubans," detailed the President of the ICC, who delivered, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, a special recognition, "to the Heroic Santiago de Cuba", the city where each edition traditionally concludes and where the call for the 35th International Book and Literature Fair Cuba 2027 was also made.
Likewise, the Association of Cuban Social Communicators honored the José Soler Puig Literary Promotions Center, and awarded the Grand Prize for Social Communication to Editorial Oriente, which this year celebrated its 55th anniversary.
The closing ceremony of the festival of letters - chaired by the member of the Central Committee of the Party and its First Secretary here, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia - was conducive to presenting the edition, whose destination is the commercialization, of the selected works of Raúl Castro, by Jorge Luis Aneiro Alonso, Director of the Office of Historical Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic, and President of the Union of Historians of Cuba.
