The Dominican Book Fair in New York Recognizes GFDD/Funglode as Special Collaborator

The philologist Orlando Alba, GFDD special guest, talks about linguistic identity during the event celebrated from October 28 to 30

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and its sister organization in the Dominican Republic, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode) successfully participated, collaborating with the celebration of important activities, in the 10th edition of the Dominican Book Fair in NY, which
took place from October 28 to 30. On this occasion GFDD/Funglode received recognition as a special collaborator of the annual Dominican Book Fair.

The important and recognized event, celebrated annually in the Big Apple, is an initiative of the Cultural Commission of Dominican Republic in the U.S., which is part of the Ministry of Culture of the Dominican Republic. The Cultural Commission acknowledged GFDD, “We truly thank you for contributing to make this
initiative a success”.

This year, the 10th Dominican Book Fair honored two prominent writers of the Dominican diaspora “for their extraordinary contributions to Dominican literature in the genres of essay and poetry”, as explained the organizers. The
honored writers were Orlando Alba, essayist, philologist and academic based in Utah – who was invited by GFDD– and Yrene Santos, poet and cultural activist from New York.

As part of his agenda in New York, Orlando Alba gave a conference entitled “The Linguistic Identity of the Caribbean Hispanic Islands.”  He explained that while some researchers consider the three Hispanic Antilles to integrate a linguistically analog area that makes possible to
speak of the Antillean Spanish dialect as a single entity, it is still possible to defend the idea of a ​​linguistic individuality of each and question the existence of a single Caribbean Spanish. “The impression of unity and even uniformity of Caribbean Spanish supported by some researchers contrasts with the beliefs and subjective judgments of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Cubans themselves. For speakers of the region, their respective dialects are distinctly
different”, said the professor.

Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony of the X Dominican Book Fair began with the national anthems of the United States and the Dominican Republic sang by Brenda Sánchez and Andrea Veloz, respectively. Afterwards the delegation of the Ministry of Culture composed of the Minister of Culture, Pedro Vergés; deputy ministers Cayo Claudio Espinal and Alexis Gómez Rosa, Deputy Minister of the Commissioner
of Culture in New York; the Commissioner and Executive Director of the Book Fair, Carlos Sánchez and Deputy Commissioner and the Executive Director of the Fair, Joanna Herrera.

After the screening of the 10th year anniversary of the Book Fair in New York, commemorative plaques were given to the representatives of the diaspora in Colombia, Carlos Aguasaco and Jacqueline Donado, and to the writers José Alejandro Peña and Rei Berroa, from Virginia. Also, special recognition
was given to Orlando Alba and Yrene Santos.

Finally, Kenia Hernández, on behalf of GFDD, joined other special guests to officially inaugurate the Fair at the cutting ribbon ceremony.