Celebrating culture and resistance: 6th annual Latin American Book Fair uplifts Latino voices in Philadelphia

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Taller Puertorriqueño was filled Saturday with the sounds of Spanish conversation and storytelling during day two of the sixth annual Latin American Book Fair. The free, weekend-long event drew hundreds of readers, authors and artists to celebrate Latino literature and Hispanic Heritage Month.

“We started just as an idea and through the years, we grew up, we built partnerships and we met a lot of new authors that came together, to share their own stories,” said LABF Education Director Mary Marques at Friday’s opening event.

LABF began in 2019 “to connect authors, illustrators, designers, publishers, editors, artists, book lovers and the community,” organizers say.

This year’s fair began with an opening program hosted at the Parkway Central Library titled “Echoes of Venezuela,” created as “a program dedicated to uplift the Venezuelan community, especially given the turmoil it has been in for the past few years,” said Venezuelan Ana Omana, LABF communications director.

Venezuelan poems were read and even sung by Venezuelan singer Alex Moreno, and Venezuelan food was served to highlight the rich culture of the country.

“It is a form of resistance, as a fellow Venezuelan, it is my way to protest and say, ‘I’m here, I’m smiling,’” Omana said.

The event culminated on Saturday with the main event, the book fair at Taller Puertorriqueño. Around 25 authors covering diverse genres attended, showcasing and selling their works.

One author present was Dominican and Puerto Rican, Cynthia Roman Cabrera, who was presenting her first book, “Belonging, on self: poems on dominirican healing.”

“It is a collection of poems that is about my identity as a Dominican, a child of immigrants and the experiences of having grown up in New York in poverty,” Roman Cabrera said.

“While my writing is very much about the Latinx experience, it’s also about what it’s like to experience oppression in this country,” she said.

The idea of oppression and uplifting voices and stories was a common theme in the literature at the book fair. Puerto Rican author Rafael Pabón Ortega presented his novel “Surviving a la Bori,” about living in the Puerto Rican diaspora community in New York, and hoped to educate patrons about his community’s experience.

“We are living in times where people are not encouraged to educate themselves and become aware. These fairs are an act of resistance and cultural reaffirmation,” he said.

As part of the fair’s goal to promote Latino voices, one of its main initiatives was the opportunity for writers to present ideas in three-minute pitches to an editor from Penguin Random House. The idea is called “Ink-Cubator” and was created by Omana as a way for emerging Latino writers in the community to have a platform to present their work without the barrier of trying to find an editor.

Hispanics only represent 8% of published works in newspapers, periodicals, books and directory publishers in 2021, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

“One of the biggest barriers is just the lack of information around the [publishing] industry itself,” said Nina Rodríguez-Marty, a senior editor from Penguin Random House, who was the guest editor for the Ink-Cubator. “There’s so much kind of gatekeeping that might be embedded in the whole system,” she said.

For those who had the chance to speak with Rodríguez-Marty, it was empowering to have someone hear their ideas and provide constructive feedback.

“This was an awesome experience. It was my first time pitching to an editor about my book story. She provided me with good feedback I can use to improve the story for publication. I was really excited!” said Marques, who pitched her idea for a children’s book.

Along with the authors, storytelling was part of the event. In one session, the children’s book “De Los Cuentos a Las Cuentas” was read aloud in a live dramatization.

The book is about a young girl, Sofía, and her story of learning about the value of saving and making wise financial decisions through her grandmother. For the author, María Del Pilar Rodríguez, it was heartwarming to see her work dramatized.

“Having your book read for the community in Spanish with three different actors is really nice,” she said. “When you’re seeing it with different voices, it explodes and that’s really interesting.”

Saturday afternoon’s turnout brought many families who wanted to transmit Latino culture to the next generation and promote reading in Spanish.

“I got a chance to go back to Colombia this past summer with my son and the fact that he spoke both languages and was able to communicate with my dad was huge for me, but it had to do with us reading a lot, exposing him to Spanish at a very young age,” said Steffany El Barouki, who brought her young children to the fair.

LABF hosts events year-round called Café con Autores. The themed event happens every three months and is centered around book releases or holidays to bring together authors and readers.

Hispanic Heritage Month ends Oct. 15.