Cuba ready for International Book Fair

Cuba is ready to welcome about 200 intellectuals and cultural officials from 30 countries and regions to the 22nd International Book Fair, to start here on Feb. 14, organizers said Sunday. Director of the Cuban Book Chamber Eduardo Fernandez said so far more than 2,500 square meters have been occupied by 134 exhibitors of 25 countries in the old fortress of San Carlos de la Cabana on the east bank of the Havana harbor. The biggest delegation belongs to Angola, the honor-guest country of the fair, said poet Edel Morales, member of the organizing committee. Angolan writers and representatives of several artistic fields will attend the fair and more than 50 books on the African country, 18 of them written by Angolan authors, will be on show. Morales said representatives from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, Ecuador, the United States and Russia are also expected to attend. Cultural officials from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe are supposed to appear. Important figures in literature and social science will take part in extensive programs, including book presentations, theoretical forums and author-reader talks. In genres of novel and poetry, Uruguay's Mario Delgado Aparain, Italy's Carlos Lucarevi, Argentina's Vicente Battista, Spain's Juan Madrid and Mexico's Paco Ignacio Taibo II will participate in the activities. US historian Aviva Chomsky is also expected to attend the fair. The organizing committee said that the fair takes place in Havana for 10 days before moving on to other cities in the country for two more weeks. Last February in Havana, some 270,000 people attended the book fair and bought more than 600,000 books.