Havana/The Havana International Book Fair (FILH) will finally be held from August 10 to 16, its organizers announced this Thursday, after its suspension last February due to the United States oil blockade on the Island.
This 34th edition of the Fair was initially scheduled for February 12 to 22, but was postponed due to “the extraordinary situation that the country is experiencing,” according to what was reported at the time by the Cuban Book Institute (ICL).
This suspension was added to that of the Isla Verde international film festival – finally held last week – and other cultural and scientific activities included in a contingency plan applied by the Cuban Government in response to the shortage of imported oil.
The president of the ICL, Juan Rodríguez Cabrera, declared that the organization of this fair “is an extremely complex task for those who are making it possible”
The book event, the largest literary and publishing event in Cuba, brings together national and foreign writers, editors and readers every year, and on this occasion Russia will be the guest country.
The president of the ICL, Juan Rodríguez Cabrera, declared that the organization of this fair “is an extremely complex task for those who are making it possible.”
He stressed that in the midst of the current circumstances that the country is experiencing, it becomes “complex to bring raw materials” to where the books are produced.
Rodríguez added that “they are doing so that the Fair is not only about inventory, but also has new books in their different formats” and the activities around an event of this magnitude.
The main and permanent headquarters of the FILH since 1982 – the Morro-Cabaña Military Historical Park – will move this time to the Cultural Station, located in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado, which in recent years has hosted craft fairs and other activities with high public attendance.
Likewise, its organizers announced that it will have five sub-headquarters in the capital to later, and until September 6, tour the rest of the island’s provinces.
Likewise, its organizers announced that it will have five sub-headquarters in the capital to later, and until September 6, tour the rest of the island’s provinces.
Its theoretical program will include, among other spaces, the professional book salon and a meeting of literary editors and translators.
It will be completed with meetings of historians, young writers from Latin America and promoters of poetry, colloquiums on social sciences, human health and the environment, and also spaces such as the Tesoro de Papel children’s and youth pavilion and the Cuba Digital project.
The call stressed that all actors in the book system will find in the 2026 FILH the place for “the exhibition, promotion, commercialization and negotiation” of Cuban and foreign literature, through “thematic diversity, genres and formats”, and interaction with the reading public.
