ISABEL ALLENDE, UMBERTO ECO and LEMONY SNICKET will be magical realism's best representatives at this year's BEA (Book Expo America). The trade-only convention is scheduled for June 2-5 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

In case you missed it: Last December, the work of Cuban writer ALEJO CARPENTIER was declared "Cultural Heritage of the Nation" by the National Council of Cultural Heritage.

Fans of Don Quixote in New York City might want to catch this exhibit: IMAGES OF DON QUIXOTE: THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION AND PRINTMAKING, a presentation by the Hispanic Society of America, 613 West 155th Street, (212) 926-2234. The show runs through Feb. 20. The society's extensive permanent collection contains virtually every known illustrated edition of the Cervantes classic (17th to 20th century) and paintings by Cervantes's contemporaries (i.e. El Greco and Luis de Morales).

The Guardian reports on the release of the new comic book series, VIMANARAMA, which features an Asian Muslim teenager who discoveres a subterranean world beneath his family's business. DC Comics sums up the plot as "a modern-day Arabian Nights in the form of a Bollywood romantic comedy set on a celestial stage."