CubaPLUS Magazine

Gladys Rodríguez Ferrero, founder of the Ernest Hemingway International Colloquium, celebrated the legacy of the renowned American writer and the importance and significance of the event, which reaches its twentieth edition this year, this Wednesday.

Speaking at the opening day from the Universal Art building of the National Museum of Fine Arts, the expert recalled the founding years of the event and the challenges of carrying out this immense project that preserves the memory, life, and work of the Nobel Prize laureate in Literature.

Rodríguez Ferrero also highlighted the history and significance of the Ernest Hemingway Monument in Cojímar, and the museum that bears his name, the first institution created in the world to disseminate the life and work of the author of The Old Man and the Sea (1952).

She especially remembered all those who contributed to the creation of such an important institution, as well as those who currently work to ensure that it remains one of the most significant Cuban cultural strongholds.

The welcoming remarks to the Colloquium were given by the president of the National Council of Cultural Heritage, Sonia Pérez Mojena, who previewed some of the program's activities, including presentations of books in digital format, talks, heritage tours, and the placement of a replica of the writer's parchment in the museum.

She added that the event promises to be extraordinary due to the interventions of the invited guests.

The academic program includes the presentation of 19 papers, 11 from Cuba and 8 from Japan, Argentina, Canada, and the United States.

This afternoon, participants placed a floral offering at the Ernest Hemingway Monument in Cojímar and visited the Las Terrazas restaurant and the Community Mural Painting Project, also in that Havana locality.

This edition commemorates the 90th and 85th anniversaries of the first publication of the novel Green Hills of Africa and For Whom the Bell Tolls, respectively.

It also commemorates the 65th anniversary of the completion of A Moveable Feast and the meeting between Fidel Castro and Hemingway in Havana on May 15, 1960.