Canada goes to Havana’s Book Fair. By KAREN DUBINSKY

The presence of large numbers of Canadians in Cuba in February is not exactly news. But the presence of seventy Canadian writers, musicians and publishers in Havana is something else. For the first time, Canada was selected as the “country of honour” for the XXVI Feria Internacional de Libro de La Habana (February 9-19, 2017), and a large and eclectic cultural delegation made our presence felt all over town.

The group included both well-established and up-and-coming names in the Canadian literary pantheon. The best known was Margaret Atwood, accompanied by her writer husband Graeme Gibson. The two shared a panel with Cuban poet Nancy Morejón, a lively and imaginative meeting of literary minds. Another high-profile Canadian was Thomas King, an Indigenous writer famous for his wry literary and non-fiction works such as The Inconvenient Indian. King, accompanied by his partner, the writer Helen Hoy, participated in the University of Havana Canadian Studies Conference that was held alongside the Feria. Two much lauded young writers present were Lebanese-Canadian Rawi Hage, and Madeline Thien, whose elegant Do Not Say We Have Nothing has won a slew of national awards and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. An extremely strong delegation from Quebec that participated in two days of Quebecois literary programming. Most fiction writers presented their work in English, though a few presented Spanish translations of their work, such as Amanda Hale, a fiction writer from BC who spoke about her newly translated Sondeando la sangre, published in Cuba by Ediciones Holguín.  

Non-fiction writers were also present, including one of Canada’s best-known Cuba scholars, John Kirk from Dalhousie University, who presented the Spanish version of his work on Cuban medical internationalism, Salud publica sin fronteras. David Austin, whose book about the Caribbean presence in Montreal, Fear of a Black Nation: Race Sex and Security in 1960s Montreal, was translated (as Miedo a una nación negra: Raza, sexo y seguridad en el Montreal de los años sesenta), and who recently won a Casa de Las Américas prize, spoke at various sessions. There were also a number of sessions dedicated to analyzing the work and impact of Canadian thinkers and writers such as Naomi Klein, Kari Levitt, and Danny Laferriere.

But despite all this incredible literary and scholarly talent, by far the most Canadian moment—indeed maybe the most Canadian thing I have ever seen—was the performance by the musical group The Jerry Cans. This six-member group hails from Iqaluit, in Canada’s most Northern territory Nunavit. Two of their members are young Inuit throat singers, a musical form that has to be seen or heard to be described. The group sings high-octave alt-country, with a little reggae thrown in. They sing in English and the Indigenous language Inuktitut. I watched them wow Canadians and Cubans alike, once at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano and again at Teatro Mella. It was a bit like watching a Canadian version of Interactivo (minus metales)—a multi-talented parade of individuals who combine as one and mix an astonishing array of styles.  

So how did Cuba take to all this Canadian talent, on and off the page? The Feria is well known for packing in the crowds, and this year was no exception. The Cabaña was full to bursting, especially on weekends. All the Canadian publishers there—most of them small, indie presses – were overwhelmed by Cubans’ interest in the books they were displaying. A highlight was the presentation of Margaret Randall’s autobiography of her time in Havana, published in Spanish (as Cambiar el Mundo mis años en Cuba, Ediciones Matanzas). At an hour-long panel at Casa de las Américas, Randall and her contemporaries—poets and writers—reflected on their time together building a new world of words from Randall’s apartment on Linea in the 1960s.  

Images courtesy of Karen Dubinsky.

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