HAVANA, Cuba.- As the 21st International Book Fair, Cuba 2012, draws near, more than 200 guests from 40 countries have confirmed their participation at the event scheduled to begin February 9 in Havana, to be expanded later to the rest of the island.

The complex cultural mosaic that is the Caribbean, to which the literary fiesta will be dedicated, will be widely represented at the event, according to the president of the Cuban Book Institute, Zuleica Romay.

Romay said national publishing houses have 46 books about themes related to the Caribbean ready for the fair, Granma reported.

Among writers from the region who will travel to Havana for the event are Barbadians Sir Hilary Beckles and Esther Phillips; Haitian Suzy Castor; Chiqui Vicioso from the Dominican Republic and Norman Girvan, from Jamaica, just to mention a few.

There will be intellectuals from outside the region, among them Mexican writer Sergio Pitol (Cervantes 2005 Prize winner), Argentinean Miguel Bonasso, Spanish-French journalist Ignacio Ramonet and Brazilian theologian Frei Betto.

The Caribbean Forum, to take place at Casa de las Americas; the Marti colloquium, at the Jose Marti Studies Center; the Meeting of historians, at Casa del Alba Cultural, of Librarians, at the National Library, and of young writers, at the Dulce Maria Loynaz Cultural Center will be some of the theoretical forums organized for this year’s Fair, in which there will be more than 120 exhibitors, 65 of them from abroad.

Two specialized colloquiums will be presided over by Social Sciences and Literature National Prize winners Zoila Lapique and Ambrosio Fornet, to who the Fair is dedicated.