Haydée Machado Valdés captivated me from the very first moment. Not only with her charisma and warmth, but also by bringing us closer to those "paper friends" with whom she, in her work as a bookseller, has shared more than a decade. Thus, from the Fulgencio Oroz Athenaeum Bookstore, the Armando Hart Cultural Plaza, and various other venues, her face is a recurring and essential one.

These days, the woman who reminds us of Yeyé (her mother chose her name in honor of Haydée Santamaría, one of the Moncada’s heroines) has represented the province at the 34th Havana International Book Fair. There, in addition to promoting the Sanlope publishing house stand, she is participating in the national booksellers' event held as part of the Fair program.

"I am very happy; this is a recognition for so many years of dedication," she told 26 before leaving for the capital. “I love my job. I’m always bustling about like a playful ant, involved in different activities, whether it’s at institutions like the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), prisons… wherever my work is needed,” she added.

Machado Valdés started out helping two of her current colleagues with this work, but she never imagined she would end up working at the Fulgencio Oroz Bookstore. “I stayed, of course; today I couldn’t live without the smell of books.”

Obviously, reading is one of her passions, and it couldn’t be any other way. “You have to read the book, know what it’s about; if it resonates with you in some way, you can tell other people about it, and that’s how you convince others to buy it.”

She also expressed her admiration for the Las Tunas authors. “There are too many to mention them all. There’s Carlos Esquivel, who has brought so much prestige to our country with his writing, and countless other writers, but —especially— I’m struck by how young people are upholding our literary tradition and winning important competitions: Armando López Carralero, Dayislenis Velázquez, Jessica González Smith, Eduardo Rosell, among others.”

Haydée sums up what a bookseller should always have with the words “affection and kindness,” and, above all, “love for books,” which —according to her— are “the most wonderful thing.”