The 34th International Book Fair of Havana will be held from August 10 to 16, 2026, but for the first time in many years, it will not take place at the Fortress of San Carlos de la Cabaña: the event has moved to the Cultural Station located on Línea Street between 18 and 20, in Vedado, according to the official announcement from the Cuban Book Institute.
The change of venue is due to the severe energy crisis that Cuba is experiencing, which forced the postponement of the fair on February 7, 2026, when it was scheduled for the 12th to the 22nd of that month. In June, the rescheduling for August with the new venue in Vedado was announced.
The Cuban Institute of Books emphasized in a video shared on its social media that "the fair has been postponed, but not canceled," and that the event will serve "to pay tribute to that great organizer, that great promoter of reading and culture that was Fidel."
This edition will be dedicated to the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth, whose 100th birthday is commemorated on August 13, 2026, a date that coincides with the ongoing development of the fair.
The Cuban regime has declared 2026 as the "Year of the Centenary of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz," and all official cultural activities for that year will revolve around this commemoration.
The Russian Federation is listed as the honored guest country, in a gesture that reflects the Cuban government's geopolitical alignment with Moscow, particularly significant in the current context, as the Island's energy crisis has deepened its dependence on Russian support.
The fair will present over 1,300 new publications and a program that includes the Professional Book Fair, the Meeting of Publishers and Literary Translators, the Meeting of Historians, colloquiums on Social Sciences and Human Health, the Meeting of Young Writers from Ibero-America, and the Children's and Youth Pavilion "Treasure of Paper."
The Cuban writers honored in this edition are Marilyn Bobes, a poet, storyteller, and literary critic from Havana who won the Casa de las Américas Prize, and José Bell Lara, a Doctor of Philosophical Sciences born in Guantánamo in 1939.
The Cuban energy crisis has led to the cancellation or postponement of numerous cultural events in the past two years, including the Grand Prix de Ballet de La Habana, the Cubadisco Festival, and the Habano Festival. The Book Fair is one of the few major events that managed to be rescheduled instead of being permanently canceled.
In parallel with the fair, the First International Colloquium "Fidel: Legacy and Future" is scheduled to take place in Havana from August 10 to 13, making that week the epicenter of the regime's commemorative propaganda surrounding the figure of the deceased dictator.
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