Book Fair Fosters Cuba-Algeria Cultural Cooperation

The book event allowed Cubans to know Algeria better through its music, literature and cinematography

The 28th International Book Fair of Havana (FILH) 2019, dedicated to the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, represented the opening of real perspectives for cultural cooperation between the Island and the North African nation, expressed Mohamed Achache, Algerian ambassador to Cuba, during the closing ceremony.

This feast of letters allowed the Cuban public to know Algeria through its music, literature and cinematography, said the diplomat, who also thanked the invitation of honor.

Juan Rodríguez Cabrera, president of the Cuban Book Institute, pointed out that some four million copies of around four thousand titles were made available to the public at FILH 2019, of which more than 600 are novelties at the event, which attracted 385,936 lovers of reading to La Cabaña fortress, 20,000 more than last year.

This time they sold 409,395 copies, more than last year, with an average price per copy of 8.6 pesos, he added. He stressed that FILH 2019 included more than 1,300 cultural activities,
including presentations of texts, concerts, conferences, film shows and visual arts exhibitions, as evidence of an event that, since 1982, disseminates and puts into dialogue a large part of the national and foreign literary resources.

Rodríguez Cabrera stressed that Algeria fulfilled its commitment to participate with more than 30 representatives, with the best organization and a lot of work, which brought a total of 18 titles translated into Spanish and 50,000 copies of and about that culture.

He informed that the record of exhibiting countries was broken with 48, whose antecedent was 46 in 2017, which demonstrates the international reach of one of the most important cultural events in Latin America.

Alpidio Alonso Grau, Minister of Culture; Eduardo Heras León, to whom the event is dedicated; Mohamed Iguereb, coordinator of the Algerian delegation to FILH 2019, and Nereyda López Labrada, General Secretary of the National Union of Cultural Workers, among other guests attended the closing ceremony,
which took place in the Nicolás Guillén hall of La Cabaña.

Among the best exhibition spaces selected in this edition were the stand of the Publishing House of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Ediciones Cubanas de Artex, Ediciones Aurelia Internacional, and Ediciones Vigía.

The stand dedicated to the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria was especially distinguished by the sobriety and exquisiteness of the exhibition, where books and photographs about that nation converged.

The Fair, in general, will conclude on April 14, in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, after having toured the 15 provinces of the island.