dumbfoundry

HAVANA, Mar 20 (IPS) - Twenty books published is a record for a Cuban author -- the island's publishing industry can't keep up with national literary output -- but it is even more astonishing for a poet from the provinces like Roberto Méndez, who has achieved this and much more.

Méndez -- poet, novelist, and essayist -- has won Mexico's first international José María Heredia essay prize, named for the man considered Cuba's first great poet, who lived from 1803 to 1939, and spent much of that time in Mexico, where he died. [...]

Méndez, born Sep. 7, 1958, in the eastern province of Camagüey, went to university in Havana, but unlike many other Cuban intellectuals and artists, he did not stay in the capital. He returned to his hometown.

There is a tendency in Cuba to think that in order to ”be somebody” one has to be close to Havana's intellectual circles, not stuck out in the provinces.

Méndez stresses that, as his personal experience shows, ”it is possible to be a writer in the provinces and publish here and there, win awards, be invited to participate in juries and events, and even travel beyond El Morro,” as the lighthouse at the entry to the Bay of Havana is known.

This entry was posted by eeksypeeksy on Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at 12:39 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.