CubaPLUS Magazine

South Africa, as the guest of honor, will have a wide participation in the 33rd International Book Fair Havana 2025, from February 13 to 23, where more than 40 nations will be represented.

According to what was revealed this Tuesday in a press conference held in the Cuban capital, there will be 400 foreign guests at the event, in which South Africa leads the good response that the sum of African countries has had to the event this year, said the president of the Organizing Committee, Juan Rodríguez Cabrera.

The director highlighted that the relations of this nation with Cuba were strengthened by the leaders Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela and, supported by the African National Congress, the political and cultural ties between the two countries have grown.

South Africa's ambassador in Havana, Yvonne Nkwenkwezi, also praised the mutual ties and recalled that Cuba and South Africa recently celebrated 30 years of diplomatic relations.
She said that currently her nation, with the help of Cuban specialists, is making great progress in the field of education and learning.

Regarding the 33rd edition of the fair, with its main headquarters at the San Carlos de la Cabaña fortress, the diplomat said that "we hope to be able to share experiences not only to expand the arts, but also to strengthen relations between the two countries."

The president of the organizing committee of the show announced that as a great novelty for this edition, the first batch of books from the People's Library is being printed, to which the best of universal culture will be incorporated each year with recognized titles.

He added that there will be more than 1,300 new features and multiple events associated with the great literary festival, including concerts, theater and film presentations, on dates that, in addition to Havana, will later extend throughout the country to the most remote communities.

Cabrera said that the event will be a space for communication of Cuban reality in the difficult conditions of the present, and said that for this, writers, promoters, publishers and other collaborators have worked so that it does not stop and continues to privilege the book, a cultural product extremely subsidized by the State in Cuba.

The 33rd edition of the Havana International Book Fair will take place between February 13 and 23, 2025 and will then move to the rest of the Cuban provinces until its closing in March in Santiago de Cuba.

At the event, the researcher and professor Francisca López Civeira and the poet, essayist, researcher and literary critic Virgilio López Lemus will be honored.

Under the premise of Martí, To read is to grow, the literary event will be dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the death in combat of the Cuban National Hero, José Martí, and will have as its central theme A whole country in books, in commemoration of the 25 years of the Territorial Publishing System (SET).

In this regard, Josué Pérez, in charge of the event program, pointed out that in La Cabaña, as usual, the main presentation room will be the Nicolás Guillén, and representatives from all continents will attend this space.

He said that the country's main awards in the field of Social Sciences will be presented there; while the Professional Book Hall will be attended by foreign guests from various publishers and institutions and the Hugo Chávez Museum Hall will be open, which usually has a large participation of Venezuelan writers and intellectuals and a good attendance of the public.

Among many other events, Pérez reported that the seventh edition of the Cubadigital project will take place, addressing the main trends in this area that impact the world of books, including Artificial Intelligence, and this year the Casa de África will be incorporated as a sub-venue of the great literary festival on the island.

(Taken from Prensa Latina)