The Havana International Book Fair is here
To the delight of the Cuban family, Cone of the most awaited cultural events in Cuba and which every year is well attended by the population, especially by young people and children, has begun.

Author: Radio Habana Cuba | internet@granma.cu

february 10, 2023 11:02:05

Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus
To the delight of the Cuban family, the Havana International Book Fair, one of the most awaited cultural events in Cuba and which every year is well attended by the population, especially by young people and children, has begun.
With Colombia as guest of honor, the literary festival in its 31st edition opens its doors in the Cuban capital at its traditional venue in the historic-military Morro-Cabaña complex.
But as usual, in order to facilitate citizens’ access to the latest literary events, the Fair also extends to other venues such as the downtown Cuba Pavilion, Havana’s historic center, Casa de las Americas and the Rancho Boyeros fairgrounds.
The fair began in 1982, first held biannually, but in 2000 it became an annual event, an initiative that was very well received by literature lovers. It was in 1998 when it had for the first time a guest of honor, Mexico.
The event has established itself in recent years as one of the most important in Latin America and the Caribbean, attended by exhibitors from all over the world, eager to show what is being done in literary matters in their countries.
In addition to being an ideal space for the exchange between entities and professionals linked to the world of publications.
In a great effort, given the difficult economic conditions of the country, more than four million printed copies of 4,200 titles and 1,000 works in digital format have been guaranteed for this new edition.
Cubans will have the opportunity on this occasion to broaden their knowledge of Colombian literature, which is very close to our country thanks to Nobel Literature Prize winner Gabriel García Márquez, a great friend of the Greater of the Antilles.
Colombia is attending with a delegation made up of writers, publishers and academics from the different regions of its territory to showcase its cultural diversity.
Colombian authorities have expressed their gratitude for the invitation, which, they said, makes it possible to highlight the importance of culture in achieving the total peace promoted by President Gustavo Petro.
The Cuban public will also be able to learn more about the sister nation through other artistic manifestations. They will be able to enjoy the performance of the Enkelé group, made up of women who seek to build a better country through art and the dissemination of folklore. Likewise, Colombian short and feature films will be screened during the Havana meeting.
On the 19th, the fair will close its doors in Havana, but as part of the revolution’s policy of bringing culture to all, it will begin its tour throughout the rest of the country
The Havana International Book Fair occupies a place of preference among Cubans, who flock to the fair in search of new titles of all genres to broaden their literary horizons.

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Defending our culture is defending the homeland
Considered shield and sword of the nation, a sublime mixture of our deepest roots, Cuban culture constitutes a moral trench that upholds the emancipatory work of our homeland

Author: Mailenys Oliva Ferrales | informacion@granmai.cu
october 20, 2021 10:10:18

Photo: Artwork by Michel Moro
A redemptive anthem, a city for the first time free from the foreign yoke, and a rebellious history that began with the Mambi, remind us every October 20 why the Cuban people feel tremendously proud to celebrate National Culture Day today.
There are many reasons to commemorate and defend what we understand as our identity.
Considered shield and sword of the nation, a sublime mixture of our deepest roots, Cuban culture constitutes a moral trench that upholds the emancipatory work of our homeland.
Our enemies are intent on erasing this culture, which has been extended to education, sports and medicine as symbolic of a country, from our souls, with treacherous invitations in cyberspace, and condemn us to historical oblivion and detachment from the values forged by the Revolution.
The usual enemies, amidst the complex situation we face – with the tightening of the blockade and the impact of COVID-19 – direct their subversion laboratories against the very heart of the homeland: our culture.
Party First Secretary and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez has made the people’s position clear, as we confront this unconventional war, in which the present and future of the nation are being defended.
Within the Revolution, he said, “There is room for everything and everyone, with the exception of those who seek to destroy our collective project…. In the Cuba of 2021, there is no room for annexationists or for the mercenaries of the moment.”

Juan Formell and Cuba’s essence
On the 79th anniversary of the birth of a man marked by his love for the homeland, we remember Juan Formell

Author: Guille Vilar | internet@granma.cu
august 10, 2021 09:08:38

The unforgettable Juan Formell during the Concert Without Borders.

Photo: Juvenal Balán
“The homeland is the homeland; a truism, which is not so. The homeland is something for which a person is capable of dying and also something that lies in a simple taste or a great combat. It can be found in guava paste and in the battle of Las Guásimas. The homeland is something minimum and maximum. In the good sense of the word, it is a mystery, a faith. Something that reaches one by way of a mysterious circumstance.” With this reflection by Cintio Vitier, we approach the 79th anniversary of the birth of a man deeply marked by love for the homeland: Juan Formell.(August 2,1942 – May 1, 2014)

Let us turn our attention, for a moment, to the enormous legacy of his work, to listen to the heartbeat of a soul that found redemption in love for the people to which he belongs.

On all the occasions on which he was granted an award, either the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Cuban Advanced Institute of Art or the Grammy for Musical Excellence, Formell could not conceive of accepting the prize for himself alone, since he fully enjoyed sharing honors with all the musicians who, after 1959, proved that the genre of son never left Cuba, but has evolved with the times.

Although, with Formell, we have finally won this dispute, he never lost touch with the evolution of the issue on different fronts.

Let us remember when the Grammy-winning album “Van Van is here” was shelved by foreign music magnates, as if to ensure its disappearance from the U.S. scene. He knew perfectly well that behind the petty gesture was the hand of the enemy. Formell was not naïve.

Another thing that Cuba will never forget is when, during the Peace Without Borders concert, organized by Juanes, an impassioned Juan Formell made an unforgettable statement: “Enough with the abuse! No matter who may not like it, the concert for peace has taken place.”

The words emerged as an acknowledgement of the event’s success despite threats and manipulation of information coming from outside the island.

Another example illustrates Formell as a man permanently identified with the root essentials defined by Cintio Vitier in the concept of homeland. In the song he co-authored with Israel Rojas of the duo Buena Fe, called “Dicha grande.”

This is how it begins: “I have in front of me my land, my people, my childhood, my truth, my pain, my roots, my reason, my essences: the whole Cuba of my loves.”

The song is a reinterpretation of the joy expressed by Marti at the moment he landed at Playita de Cajobabo, along with Máximo Gómez. Here both creators enjoy a euphoria that Van Van is in charge of communicating with immeasurable joy, as if to make the neighbors across the street, the usual cranks, understand, once and for all, that we will never stop loving Cuba, whatever the price life may demand of us.