Reading a book, according to Descartes, teaches more than talking to its author, because there he has put his best thoughts. The party of these paper friends has arrived, days of discovery that move our thoughts and imagination.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- From today until Sunday, the Book Fair in Las Tunas promotes the commercialization of texts in Maceo Park and its surroundings (main venue), as well as the Fulgencio Oroz Ateneo bookstore.

On this occasion, the event is dedicated to Carlos Esquivel Guerra, Nicolás Guillén National Poetry Award winner; the 30th anniversary of the publication of the novel Matarile, Guillermo Vidal's masterpiece, and the 115th birthday of Gilberto E. Rodríguez, the Greater Poet of the 20th century in the province. Colombia also adds to the motivations, as the guest country of honor; as well as, the works of the bibliographer and researcher Aracely García Carranza and the National Literature Award winner Julio Travieso Serrano, plus the centenary of Fina García Marruz and Antonio Núñez Jiménez.

Maike Machado, director of the Provincial Book and Literature Center, reports that 378 titles are available to the public, and a figure of more than 13,000 copies, whose average price is 17.50 pesos in national currency.

"Due to the difficult economic situation that the country is going through, only two volumes appear as a novelty by the Sanlope publishing house: Radio chisme animal, by Diosneldo Salazar, and Antología de poesía argentina actual, a selection made by Nicolás Antonioli," explains Acirys Espinosa Martínez, the chief editor.

Although classics such as El Principito and Corazón are not on the shelves this time, readers can enjoy other equally valuable ones, including Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo; works by Leonardo Padura; and numerous texts that have won the Calendario Award, a contest that honors the best of young Cuban creation, in terms of letters.

Several institutions have events on the agenda. The Provincial Center for Cultural Heritage, for example, hosts Ciudad VirtuaL, in which the writer Andrés Casanova gives lectures, and digital texts are copied for free, including Matarile and volumes published by Sanlope. Likewise, renowned writers from other provinces accompany the activities, including Rafael de Águila, Lázaro Gómez Castañeda, Obdulio Fenelo, Juan Carlos García Guridi, and Nelton Pérez.

Special emphasis is given to the theoretical spaces that are developed daily in settings such as the House of the Young Creator (The Last Word), and the General Vicente García González Provincial Museum (Literary Thought). There, the specialists express assessments about the relationship between literature and other artistic expressions, the challenges of young literary creation on the Island, the way of editing poetry, problems of contemporary Cuban narrative, and the approach to inspirations such as Gabriel García Márquez, among other topics.

As a novelty, the calls for the La Llama Doble (Doble Flame), narrative, All Poetry, and the Critics Award (which from now on will be called Ramiro Duarte) contests are resumed, which had marked a milestone within the expression, besides maintaining The Little Prince (children's literature).

Inclusive reading, the theme to which the Fair is dedicated, is represented -for example- with the presentation of free books in Braille. The Editorial Académica Universitaria (Edacun), for its part, discusses the particularities of its publication. And, among the extensions of the great event are the houses of high studies and entities far from the city environment, such as the Stainless Steel Company, and several schools.

The usual spaces are maintained, including Tesoro de Papel, with performances for infants in Maceo Park; and Flores del Alma, artistic confluence in the Provincial Committee of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). There are also others such as History and Memory; Women in the Brewery; This house is Exchanged; Versions of Nefelibata; Conexión Martí and El Club de los Poetas Vivos, with readings of texts, panels, artistic presentations...

Likewise, the José Martí provincial library, El Cucalambé Ibero-American Center of the Décima, the Las Tunas branch of the Nicolás Guillén Foundation, and other entities have spaces on the agenda.