Antares Publishing House of Spanish Culture is hosting a literary and cultural event in celebration of International Book Day on April 23 from 6 to 9pm in the Skyroom of Glendon College’s Centre of Excellence, (located on the third floor of York Hall, Glendon campus). All are welcome and admission is free.
The program features the launch of three Antares publications.
Alter Medea, a play by Cuban playwright Elaine Vilar Madruga, who is a two-time winner of Spain’s Garzon Cespedes International Award (2012 and 2013) and recipient of the I Accésit Thalía at the Airel ART(E) T(H)EATRO XXI Awards from Antares Publishing House of Spanish Culture (2013). The book will be presented by the Consul General of Cuba in Toronto and by the author, who is travelling from Havana, Cuba for the launch.
The second book being launched at the event is a collection of poems, The Sun Never Sets, by Chilean writer and poet Erik Martínez Richards, a member of the Escuela de Santiago, a literary group focused on the history of Chilean poetry. Martinez Richards is also the author of Tequila Sunrise, another collection of poetry published in 1985. The Sun Never Sets will be presented by the Consul General of Chile in Toronto and by the author.
Juan Gelman : Les stratégies de l’altérité. Hétéronymie, intertextualité, traduction, a French translation by Francisco Antolino of the original Spanish version by María del Carmen Sillato, a professor at University of Waterloo, is the winner of the 1997 Best Book Award from the Canadian Association of Hispanists for best academic book on Hispanic Literature. The book, which presents a critical analysis of the work of Argentinian poet Juan Gelman, will be presented by University of Toronto Professor Rosa Sarabia.
Sarabia will speak about Gelman, who died on January 14. A celebrated poet, Gelman was the winner of the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious award for literary works written in the Spanish language.
Also included in the program is a presentation of a portrait of Juan Gelman executed in oil by Eugenia Dietrich, a renowned Argentinian artist, who will speak on the creative process that led to the creation of the painting. Dietrich was the recipient of an award from the Registro Creativo of the Canadian Association of Hispanists for her painting Alas, pétalos y violín con acordeón (2014). The Deputy Consul General of Argentina in Toronto will also address the meeting and speak of the importance of Argentinian Letters in world literature.
Tributes will be paid to writers Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, all of whom died on April 23. The Antares event includes a presentation on the famed French novelist Maurice Druon (1918-2009). Druon was a member of the French Academy. The presentation will be made by the cultural representative of the Alliance Française de Toronto. A presentation on the work of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega will be made by University of Ottawa Professor Luis Abanto.
director of Antares
Finally, several books will also be on display at the event. The books are: Seven Princes by Julian Fernandez; Three Lotuses in a Sea of Fire by Camila Reimers; The Breadfruit Tree and Other Stories by Gabriela Etcheverry; and Una Espléndida Ocasión and Other Latitudes: Argentinian Voices around the 49th Parallel edited by Glendon Professor Margarita Feliciano.
Refreshments will be provided, as well as musical entertainment by Yaritza Martínez and her father, Isidro Martínez, a former member of the famed Cuban music ensemble Buena Vista Social Club.
International Book Day is an annual event inaugurated in 1995 by UNESCO to promote publishing, reading and copyright.
For more information, contact Glendon Professor Margarita Feliciano at 416-487-6787 or visit the Festival of Images and Words website.