CubaPLUS Magazine

Under the slogan “A whole country in books” the 33rd edition of the Havana International Book Fair will be held from February 13 to 23, with South Africa as the guest country, which is considered of great importance since it is the third nation on the African continent to receive this distinction, said the president of the Cuban Book Institute (ICL), Juan Rodríguez.

The information was offered by Rodríguez in a press conference this Thursday, when he added that this slogan honors the 25 years of the creation of the Territorial Publishing System and meant that the exhibition will be dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the death in combat of the Cuban National Hero, José Martí.

On this occasion, he continued, the event will pay tribute to the researcher and professor Francisca López Civeria, National History Prize 2008 and National Prize for Social and Humanistic Sciences 2022, and the poet, essayist, researcher and literary critic Virgilio López Lemus.

Later, Rodríguez pointed out that history unites both countries, as she recalled the strong ties of friendship that united the leaders of South Africa and Cuba, Nelson Mandela and Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, respectively, in addition to all the bilateral collaboration, fostering after the fall of the apartheid regime.

She also referred to the economic difficulties that the country is going through, in the midst of which the fair will take place and despite this, she stressed, national authorities will provide all possible support for the realization of the event, together with the government of Havana, the institutions of the cultural system and friends from other countries.

During the fair, which will be extended to the rest of the country's provinces one week after its conclusion, numerous physical and digital books will be presented and put on sale, on which more than 65 national publishers are working hard.

For her part, the South African ambassador to Cuba, Yvonne Nkwenkwezi, thanked on behalf of her country for this designation, which she considered an honor and a commitment, as it will help strengthen cultural ties between both nations and help the Cuban public to learn more about the literature of her nation and its authors.