• Cuban Book Fair Pays Homage to Casa de Las Americas
• Cuban Braille Book on Sexuality Presented in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 14, (acn).- Havana's 18th International Book Fair
continues at the Morro-Cabaña Cultural Complex, after kicking off on Friday.

One of the more anxiously awaited events of the day, among the more than 60 book presentations and meetings scheduled for Saturday, will be a tribute concert to late singer-songwriters Violeta Parra and Victor Jara, featuring a presentation of two related books: El libro mayor de Violeta Parra, a biography written by her daughter, Isabel; and Victor, un canto inconcluso, by Joan Jara, the artist's widow.

This year's guest country, Chile, will be represented with the launching of works such as Lumperica, by Diamela Eltit and Mil veces Volodia, by Volodia Teitelboim, at the Jose Antonio Portuondo Hall.

Cuban poet and writer Roberto Fernandez Retamar will give a talk on the books Con las mismas manos and Lo que va dictando el Fuego, published by Biblioteca Ayacucho.

At the Alejo Carpentier Hall there will be a panel discussion on the 15th anniversary of the Pinos Nuevos Collection, with the participation of Argentinean journalist Jorge Timossi and a collection of books from this publishing house.

The Nicolas Guillen Hall will host an international seminar on the impact of the global financial crisis, while at the Fernando Ortiz Hall Cuban academicians will focus on Cuban historiography over the last 50 years.

On Monday, at the Nicolas Guillen Hall of the Complex, the Nosside 2009 World Contest will announce the 12 winners for 2008. An anthology of the main works of the previous event, featuring authors from five continents, will be launched that day.

According to Pascual Amato, founding president of the Nosside Prize, Cubans Rosa Maria Barrios, with a Special Mention, and Beatriz Casal Enriquez and Rosa Rodriguez Cubela, with Individual Mentions, are among the winners. Amato said that in 2008 Cuba placed third at the Nosside, after Italy and Brazil. The contest pays tribute to the memory of Nosside de Locri, the Greek poet who sang beautiful verses to her compatriots and travellers.

Nosside's international jury is made up of prestigious figures from the world of culture, among them Cuban Mayerin Bello, and Italian Giuseppe Amoroso, its president.

The overall winner of the Nosside 2008 award was Daniela Raimondi, who lives in London.

Cuban Book Fair Pays Homage to Casa de Las Americas

Casa de las Americas' promotional work and its role as a cultural reflection center and a builder of cultural bridges was recognized at the 18th International Book Fair "Cuba 2009," underway since Thursday in Havana. 

A round table called 'Casa de las Americas and the Latin American Narrative' took place today in honor of the institution's 50th anniversary. 

The event included a dynamic exchange between prominent creators, among them Mexican writer Paco Ignacio Taibo II and his compatriot Victor Barrera Enderle, Chilean Grinor Rojo and Venezuelan Luis Britto, who discussed whether there is a Latin American literature or not. 

Intellectuals also talked about the so-called boom of the 1960's that was followed by the rule of trans-national publishing houses and the promotion of superficial literature and the current growing hopes for a so-called "New World."  

Grinor Rojo said the region is living a time of reconstruction after the end of the era of dictatorships in Latin America. He called for greater support from the governments for culture. 

Rojo complained strongly that a critical work of the writings by the pioneer of modernism in the Americas, Ruben Dario, has never been published. 

For his part, Barrera Enderle pointed out that Latin American literature continues to be a challenge and a problem to keep working on.

Cuban Braille Book on Sexuality Presented in Havana

The Cuban National Association for the Blind presented a new Braille book entitled Sexuality, Imagination and Reality on the occasion of the Valentine's Day celebrations.

The book by Jorge Pelaez Mendoza was first published in 1997 by the Cuban
Book Institute and it was recently transcribed to the reading system designed by Luis Braille.

The new edition for the blind has two volumes and was dedicated to the family, women and love. It will be available at the 18th International Book Fair "Cuba 2009" underway in Havana and other venues across the island.

The book was presented in the reading area for the visually impaired in the municipal library of Bejucal, the first facility of its type with a space designed for the blind in Havana province.