Book fair organizers report that 62 Cuban publishers, as well as 54 publishers from 27 other countries, will have booths at the fair. A sizable participation is expected from Mexico, Argentina, France, the United Kingdom, and especially Spain--the guest of honor this year. The fair is being accompanied by a range of other cultural events throughout Havana, including theater and dance performances, art exhibits, concerts, and film showings.

For the first time the Havana Book Fair, previously biannual, is being held as a yearly event. Registering Cuba's continued economic recovery including in publishing, the fair will feature a greater number and selection of books and periodicals than previous years. A total of 1,400 different titles and 500,000 books will be on sale in pesos to the Cuban public, fair organizers said in a press conference. While last year one bookshop was set up for sales in pesos, this time there will be four shops, plus six stands selling high-demand titles printed in large runs. Books at the exhibition stands are generally sold in dollars.

Throughout the nine-day fair, which ends February 10, scores of book launches, lectures, and poetry readings will be held. A number of panel discussions and other events will pay tribute to the poetry, essays, and other works of Roberto Fernández Retamar, one of Cuba's best-known writers, according to Iroel Sánchez, president of the Cuban Book Institute.

Among the features at the book fair will be a pavilion for children's literature and a special hall, called "The Interactive Island," for the growing number of Cuban publishers producing literature in digital form.

Among the exhibitors is Pathfinder Press, which has been part of every Havana book fair since 1986. An international team of volunteers from Canada, France, Iceland, Iran, Sweden, and the United Kingdom will be staffing the Pathfinder booth.

Pathfinder is presenting several new titles at the international fair. Fertile Ground: Che Guevara and Bolivia, an interview with Bolivian revolutionary Rodolfo Saldaña, will be launched at a special event together with Cuban publisher Editora Política, which is simultaneously coming out with a Spanish-language edition. Saldaña, who joined with Ernesto Che Guevara in the 1966–67 revolutionary front that Guevara led in Bolivia, recounts the tumultuous events in the class struggle of Bolivia and the rest of South America that created favorable conditions for building a revolutionary movement there.

Another new Pathfinder title is Haciendo historia, a Spanish-language edition of Making History: Interviews with Four Generals of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces. Also being presented are editions in both English and Spanish of Pathfinder Was Born with the October Revolution, by Mary-Alice Waters, and The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning, by Jack Barnes.

The 10th Havana International Book Fair is being held at the historic San Carlos de la Cabaña fortress, as it was last year. The imposing 18th century Spanish fort, which overlooks Havana Bay, served as Che Guevara's Rebel Army command post after the January 1959 victory of the Cuban revolution. At La Cabaña, Guevara promoted cultural events among the soldiers stationed there, including ballet performances, plays, poetry readings, and concerts, as part of pointing the way forward for working people to broaden their cultural horizons as they fight to build a new society.  
 
 
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