Cuba's International Book Fair and ALA Tour
By Barbara Conaty
Captivating Cuba has welcomed readers, authors, publishers, and librarians to its International Book Fair in Havana since 1982. This year is the 26th celebration of this stand-out cultural extravaganza organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Cuban Book Institute. In a country determined to overcome the haunting effects of the loss of Soviet trading partners and of the embargo enforced by the USA and Israel, the book fair is a family-oriented festival dedicated to the pleasures of reading under the motto âTo read is to growâ.
In 2016 after the U. S. embargo was partially lifted, the American Library Association (ALA) sponsored a tour of about 30 people whose goal was to attend the Fair as well as to visit major libraries and other cultural and social institutions. The February 2017 tour included professionals from an array of libraries, three library schools, two professional associations, and a consulting firm. Gathering at the Hotel Nacional, an Art Deco jewel built in 1935 and recognized as a National Monument, tour members travelled from New York, Virginia, Illinois, New Jersey, California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Texas, New Hampshire, Arizona, and the Virgin Islands.
The Fair originated as part of a government campaign to boost reading. Today, the literacy of Cubaâs population is nearly at 100 percent. Fairgoers could keep track of all events with the help of a daily 4-page tabloid newspaper that minutely detailed the schedule as well as offered longer articles about the dayâs noteworthy speakers. Â The book fair is enormously popular amongst Cubans of all ages. The 10-day Fair starts at the massive Spanish colonial Fortaleza de San Carlos de La Cabana, with 12 additional venues all around the city for readings by authors and other Fair events. On Feb. 20, Â the publishers and the Fairâs libreria packed up their boxes and went on the road to bring the much-desired wares to eager grass-roots readers. Â
A very appealing avenue to the Fair is through the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana. This agency is charged with the protection, conservation, restoration of the city and operates its own publishing house, two bookstores, and its own magazine, Opus Habana. The agency hosted 16 author events featuring its own works as well as those of other publishers during the Fair. Â
This yearâs Fair named Canada as its guest of honor so the Embassy of Canada and its partners invited more than 30 Canadian authors to attend, chief among them Margaret Atwood, Madeleine Thien, Luc Chartrand, and Jocelyne Saucier. Eighteen Canadian publishers filled out the guest list. Canadian tourists constitute 40 per cent of the Cuban tourist business which attracted some 3 million visitors in 2015.
Some 600,000 Habaneros attend the Fair and buy tons of books because the Fair is the only reliable way to obtain new books from governmental and other publishers. Eighty-six publishers from abroad were represented. Total offerings at the Fair were four million copies of items on hand  for sale including novelties such as laminated posters. The dual currency system means that local publishers sell their goods for Cuban pesos  (CUPs) with a typical cover price being less than $1 US. Publishers from Australia, Peru, and other countries sell their books for Convertible Currency (CUCs) pegged to the U. S. dollar so the average price leaps to about $6 US. While there is a currency exchange booth to get the cash needed for purchases, there is no way to use a credit card. Â
Taking advantage of the Fortalezaâs stunning architecture and its generous outdoor spaces, many publishers are housed in separate cubicles ranged along cobblestone alleys while others are in shady tents and fresh-air stalls. Many publishers from Latin America and Spain host large and colorful displays. Childrenâs material of all kinds is especially popular. One kiosk featured the Frankfurt Book Fair but most books for sale were in Spanish. Australiaâs Ocean Press featured a stunning photo book entitled, âResistencia: the peoples of Latin Americaâ with brief texts in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese. It features photos of the indigenous peoples of South America in street protests to protect their environments and cultures.
The U. S. Publishing Mission to Cuba featured 400 titles from 31 American publishers in the USA Pavilion. It was organized by Publishers Weekly and the Combined Book Exhibit. Books on display were not for sale and were to be donated to the Cuban Book Institute at the Fairâs end. Cuban and U. S. publishers both urged the end of the economic blockade citing huge interest among their readers and buyers for literature from their Caribbean neighbors just 90 miles away. Â For a good look at the Missionâs work, please visit their site as well as view the entrancing video at this link.
The Socialist Workers Party staffed a lively booth with the works of the Pathfinder Press offering timely books in Spanish devoted to the struggles of the working class in Cuba and in the USA. Another kiosk featured a turbaned chef, a woman who stars in her own cooking show on Cuban TV. Her book collected her own recipes for favorite Cuban specialties in an attractive and colorful paperback volume.
One of the most prominent features of the Fair was the tribute to Comandante en Jefe, Fidel Castro, who died in November, 2016. A special presentation of the 90th Anniversary Collection of his 30 books along with a two-day colloquium devoted to his political thought was on the schedule. Â
Not to be missed was the booth of Ediciones Vigia which specializes in hand-crafted books limited to runs of 200 copies. Headquartered in Matanzas in central Cuba, this firm makes its own papers, commissions its own art, selects authors from among eager candidates, and is a collectorâs delight. Â Named after the hurricane lamp that is a necessary safety aid in the stormy season, this firm has for three decades produced three-dimensional works on paper that highlight the creativity and resourcefulness of its contributors. Â
















