Page 176 - Results 2015: AC/E Programme for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture

RESULTS 2015sElECtion of projECts176/Puerto Rico’s Turn to SpeakAndrÉs sEoAnEEL CULTURAL | 16/10/2015Puerto Rico’s Festivalof the Word (El Festivalde la Palabra de Puerto Rico), which celebratesits sixth Edition this year, brings together almostone hundred authors from twenty di erent countries to promote Spanish language and culture within a space for intercultural debate spanning both sides ofthe Atlantic. Twelve ofthe authors are Spanishand their attendance is made possible by theAC/E Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture.Puerto Rico’s top literary event kicks ofon Monday 19 October with the Sixth Edition of Festival of the Word, thisyear dedicated to the late Puerto Rican poet Francisco Matos Paoli (1915-2000). e central theme of this edition is Howto write in times of crisis. ere will beover one hundred activities, including: debates, round tables, keynote talks, lm projections, poetry reading, concerts,book exhibitions and presentations and encounters with di erent authors. Around one hundred writers from twenty countries will participate in the festival, including twelve Spanish authors, thanks to the mobility support provided by Spain’s Public Agency for Cultural Action (AC/E - Acción Cultural Española) through the AC/E Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture. e festival dates back to a successful initiative in 2010 at the hand of its current co-directors; the Puerto Rican writer Mayra Santos-Febre, who acts as executive director, and the veteran Spanish writer and journalist José Manuel Fajardo, director of programming. After successfully running the event for over half a decade, we catch up with them to talk about the festival’s aims and about the realities a ecting Latin American Spanish literature.Question - What are your aims and expectations with this Festival of the Word?Answer - e festival is born of two aims: to help the International projection of Puerto Rican literature and to promotean intercultural and literary dialogue between both sides of the Atlantic (not only in Spanish but also in Portuguese, French, English, German, Arabic...) and to