This year, celebrating four decades, they had nearly a hundred Ibero-American authors, the majority being local authors. In the headlining sessions of the event, the Spanish Rosa Montero, at the opening and Julia Navarro, at the closing. The authors of the patio stand out: Jaime Bayly, Ena Columbié, Anjanette Delgado, Legna Rodríguez Iglesias, Erneto G., Rosie Inguanzo, Lourdes Vázquez, Camilo Pino, Grethel Delgado, Santiago Rodríguez, José Ignacio Valenzuela, Armando López, Pedro Medina León, Alfredo Triff and Gastón Virkel.
Of those who visited us, Gustavo Rodríguez, Armando Correa, Guillermo Arriaga Esmeralda Santiago, Claudia Piñeiro, Francisco Larios and Ernesto Fundora. Books, presentations and conversations set the pace of the event.
The cultural life of Miami that vibrates around literature, can be told by the different gatherings that the city has, being The Other Corner of Words, Friday Gathering, The Alligator before the Mirror, Miami Poetry Gathering, the best known, there are others that are carried out in private homes, such as Green Ink and the one led by the writer and motivator Xiomara Pagés.
At least a hundred authors passed through the mentioned rocks, among them, Ismael Sambra, Enrique del Risco, Hector Manuel Gutierrez, Jose Hugo Fernandez, Alejandra Ferraza, Jose Raul Vidal and Franco, Emilio Sanchez, Luis Alejandro Ordonez, Joaquin Galvez, Rodolfo Martinez Sotomayor, Andres Reynaldo, Manuel Vazquez Portal, Eduardo Rene Casanova Ealo, Humberto Rossenfeld, Jose Abreu Philippe, Grape of Aragon, Ernesto Diaz Rodriguez, Yoe Suarez, Janisset Rivero, Ruben Santos, Nicolas Abreu Philippe, Juan Carlos Mirabal, Luis Felipe Rojas , Osman Aviles, Octavio de la Suarée, Pablo Socorro, Ephraim Riveron, Denis Fortune, Juan Carlos Recio, Gustavo Perez Fernandez, Sergio of the Kings, Daniel Fernandez, Rafael Bordao, Nelson Llanes, Carlos Pintado, Pedro Roman, Rolando Morelli, Hernan Vera Alvarez, Lissette Hernandez and Armando.
What seems like a lot of names is a sample of the great cultural life around the books that are published and promoted in Miami, one of the cities in the United States where Hispanics vibrate with the greatest energy.
At the beginning of the year, Yoandy Cabrera, om ulloa and René Rubí arrived from Illinois to present the kyrne editions, which emerged from the languages department at Rockford University.
The Artefactus Cultural Project, created in Miami by Eddy Díaz Souza, deserves special recognition for its fifteen years of experience. Although its primary focus is theater, it has expanded its scope, and has become a solid multidisciplinary space, with art exhibitions, lectures, music, book presentations and children’s events. Among them the Open Arts Fest and Solo Theater Fest festivals; poetry readings with Teresa María Rojas, recognition of the career of Pedro Monge Rafuls; talk by Emilio de Armas about the Cuban poet Julián del Casal, on the 160th anniversary of his birth.
The salon The Other Corner of Wordscoordinated by Joaquín Gálvez, at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora (another institution that has consolidated itself in the cultural framework of Miami, with exhibitions, theater and multidisciplinary events), this year had a revealing meeting, when presenting the book When I Salí of Cuba by Remberto Pérez and María Pérez, which addresses the exodus of Cuban children to Spain, thanks to the efforts of Franciscan Father Antonio Camiñas, a little-known exodus of Cubans.
Another essential institution in the local cultural framework is the Miami Hispanic Cultural Art Center, directed by Eriberto Jiménez. La Casona, as the place is known, is a dance and ballet school, which organizes the International Ballet Festival and hosts art exhibitions on its premises, the monthly Tertulia Friday meeting, which has been running for ten years, as well as theater, film presentations, conferences and other activities, such as those coordinated by the writer Baltasar Santiago Martín, from the Apogeo Foundation, and the Miami Poetry Gathering led by Mercedes Minota.
The Imago x las Artes center maintains a constant pace of work, with events for minors, classes, workshops, talks and frequent poetry reading days, such as the night of contemporary Venezuelan poetry in which Claudia Noguer-Penso, Kelly Martínez participated -Grandal and Douglas Gómez.
The Books & Books bookstore is a bilingual space. Throughout the year, readings and books by authors in Spanish are presented. This year, 2023, they had, among others, Armando Lucas Correa, with his novel The Night Traveler, and Zoé Valdés with A Greek Love. Also the journalist Ana Veciana Suárez, presenting Dulcinea, and the writer Iraida Iturralde for the launch of her book Preso el antelope, among other notable authors who passed through the legendary bookstore.
If institutions play an important role, we must highlight the work of the publishers that help promote culture in Miami. The most emblematic of all, Ediciones Universal, has recently released the books Felipe Rey de Castro and the university Catholic group, by Dr. Roberto Méndez Martínez; The unfinished dream: History of the Student Revolutionary Directorate of Javier Figueroa and The Great Madness, a novel by journalist Juan Manuel Cao.
Editorial Furtiva is expanding its catalog with works by local authors. Some of her recent titles: Lo que tranpasde by Odette Alonso; Antón Arrufat self-portrait without amendments by Carlos Espinosa Domínguez; Bastard by Ena Columbié; Cruel Ballads of Rosie Inguanzo; History and masochism of Enrique del Risco and Cuadernos sin rimas, by the recently deceased poet Manuel Díaz Martínez.
Another thriving publisher is Primigenios, which focuses its project on authors residing in Cuba. Among its titles are Not all lions eat mangoesby Guillermo Barreto; Summer in the fall, by Ileana Águila and The Indian of nine lives, by the writer David Martínez.
Local is the Editorial El Ateje, with titles such as The Cuban death of Hemingway, by Reinaldo Bragado Brittany; Bitter taste and other storiesby Elvira de las Casas; Naked stories, of Jose Abreu Philip and Of what has been and to be, by Juan Cueto-Roig
The Suburbano Ediciones collection stands out for its breadth and dynamism. Some of his books, Noir tropical Miamian anthology compiled by several authors; My father’s eyes, by Isabel Ibáñez de la Calle; great nightby Hernán Vera, Neurosis Miami, by Gastón Virkel, Don’t talk to me about Cuba, by Grethel Delgado and Bandits, by Pedro Medina León.
Other publishing projects co-exist in Miami: Neo Club Press, Alexandria Library, Eko of Kafka and Next Land Editions.
It is necessary to highlight in the Miami literary context, several events that took place throughout the year, such as the activities carried out by the Cuatrogatos Foundation, focused on children, which among others organizes the book picnic, to attract minors to the reading and the presentation of the El Ateje Editorial Awards to literary figures, in the genres of poetry, narrative and theater. Also the work of the plastic artist Emilio Héctor Rodríguez inspired by the Simple verses by José Martí.
An intense year, although even so, the usual people will continue to say that Miami is a cultural wasteland.
