The 29th International Book Fair -FILCuba 2020- concluded on Sunday in the Cuban capital with dance, music and theater shows. At the most important Cuban publishing event, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam stood out as the Guest of Honor Country, which also celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations with the Caribbean island nation.
Some 300 guests from more than 40 countries participated at FILCuba 2020, whose 29th edition paid tribute to the legacy of National Social and Humanistic Sciences winner, essayist Ana Cairo, as well as that of 2005 National Theater Award laureate, playwright Eugenio Hernández Espinosa. The countries with the largest representation were Spain, Mexico, Peru and, for the first time, Guatemala.
The even’t Havana headquarters, San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress, was even visited by Argentina’s Vice President, Cristina Fernández, who launched her book Sincéramente (Sincerely), considered a bestseller for less than a year of publication for the first time outside her country. Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and other government authorities attended the presentation of the Argentine vice president, the first woman to become president in Argentina and hte mother of two children submitted, as well as herself, to a persistent media, political and judicial persecution, today known as law fare. Fernandez thanked the Cuban government and doctors for the care given to her daughter Florencia Kirchner, who has been admitted to a Cuban hospital for health problems since March 2019. The Argentine Vice President said that Cuban medicine and the humanity of Cuban doctors have earned the fame they have.
As part of FILCuba 2020, the National Prizes for Literature, Design, Editing, History, the Nicolás Guillén for poetry and the novel, short story and the Alejo Carpentier for essay and others were presented. The 29th edition also celebrated the centennial of the birth of Cuban writer, poet and essayist Eliseo Diego, the 25th anniversary of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation and the 80th birthday of Miguel Barnet, honorary president of the Cuban Writers and Artists Association -UNEAC. Throughout 10 days, Pabellón Cuba, the ALBA Cultural House, the José Martí National Library, the University of Havana, the Dulce María Loynaz Center, the Center for Studies on Cuban National Hero José Martí and the Havana based Casa de las Americas cultural institutions worked as collateral headquarters.
In addition to exchanges between editors, translators, designers and illustrators, and book presentations, poetry readings, music, theater and dance shows were held.In general, the event will wind up on April 12 in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, after having extended its activities to most of the country's provinces, with the prospects of offering more than four thousand titles throughout the country and over four million books.
