Five hundred ten exhibitors will participate in the First International Book Fair of Santo Domingo that opens at the Plaza del Conservatorio on Thursday, 23 April. The book fair is the same national book fair now gone international, thus the new record of exhibitors. In 1997, 240 exhibitors attended. This year, exhibitors are coming from 19 countries. Some 103 foreign publishing houses have registered. The largest foreign delegation is from Spain, where the Ministerio de Educación y Cultura of the Spanish government is cosponsoring a pavilion with 30 Spanish publishing houses. Participants are also coming from Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, El Salvador, the United States, Canada, Israel, Honduras, Peru, Ecuador, Taiwan, Germany, Japan, Haiti and Argentina. Also registered are 85 Dominican book stores, 15 children book stores, four Dominican publishing houses, 11 international organizations, 24 non-governmental organizations, 25 Dominican government organizations, 12 local universities, 12 cultural foundations, 99 authors, 12 religious organizations, five computer-related stores, six Dominican newspapers, two educational video companies, two professional associations, six banks and 14 other businesses. In the magazine section of the fair, some 30 exhibitors have registered. Also, some 25 painters, sculptors and drawers in the plastic arts section; 14 Dominican cookbook authors will be participating in the cooking book section, 11 authors in the decoration section, and 25 writers in the women’s book stand.
