English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Novels, essay, and poetry in a year of memory, critique, and literary resistance 14ymedio, Havana, January 10, 2026 — Cuban literature in 2025 once again demonstrated that, even in a context of editorial scarcity, censorship, and geographic dispersion, books remain one of the most effective tools for thinking about the country. From the Island and from … Continue reading “The 14 Most Important Cuban Books of 2025”
A look at the year’s most significant farewells Throughout 2025, numerous farewells took place. The obituaries published during these 12 months in 14ymedio have not only been a record of the end of those lives, but also a way to contextualize the legacy they left behind. It is worthwhile now to take stock of those … Continue reading “Cuba: The Deaths That Marked 2025”
Is it appropriate to hide the suffering of a people in the name of culture? 14ymedio, Yaiza Santos, Huelva (Spain) — The voice of Gema Corredera and the piano of Roberto Carcassés transformed the Spanish village of Trigueros, in Huelva, into a haunted place on Tuesday. In the garden of the Harina de Otro Costal … Continue reading “The Cuban Miracle in Trigueros Comes at a Disturbing Price”
Katherine Perzant’s book about the Cuban countryside has just won the Franz Kafka prize for essay and testimony 14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 9 August 2025 — Katherine Perzant has rediscovered for readers the physical and spiritual desert of the Cuban countryside. A skeletal train that crosses a plain; oxen grazing casually by the road; miles … Continue reading “July Books: Variations on the Orishas, the Lottery and the Cuban Incubator”
14ymedio, Yunior Garcia Aguilera, Madrid, 22 May 2025 — Madrid starts the week in full swing with Cuban literature. On Tuesday, Carlos Celdran presented his book -with two plays- at the Arenales bookstore. A day later, Roberto Carcassés presented his first novel at El Argonauta, while Leonardo Padura attended the presentation of Un camino de … Continue reading “Something That Has Deeply Affected Cuban Literature Is Fear”
The Observatory of Academic Freedom accuses the decision of being an act of “censorship” 14ymedio, Havana, July 25, 2024 — Anthropologist and activist Jenny Pantoja Torres has been dismissed from the Miguel Enríquez Faculty at the University of Medical Sciences of Havana (UCM-H). As reported on Thursday by the Academic Freedom Observatory (OLA), the decision … Continue reading “Anthropologist Jenny Pantoja, Close to Alina Bárbara López Hernández, Is Dismissed from the University of Havana”
The letter is signed by Leonardo Padura, Fito Páez and Fernando Pérez, among others. EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, July 3, 2024 — More than 220 writers and artists signed an open letter in which they denounce the “police violence” with which the intellectual Alina Bárbara López and the anthropologist Jenny Pantoja were recently treated. The … Continue reading “More Than 220 Artists Denounce the Police Violence in Cuba Against Two Intellectuals”
The great Havana pimp was the dandy who dazzled everyone while riding his white braided-tail steed or walking his greyhounds through the streets of the capital 14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 23 June 2024 — Yarini has become news again. The great Havana pimp, the most bastard of national heroes, the greatest sex symbol of … Continue reading “Attack Yarini: The Combat Order Is Given”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 29 October 2023 — “When you see cartoons being burned, soak your constitution.” Enrique del Risco’s warning doesn’t stand up to scrutiny because of its lucidity, in the country of the hoax and the practical joke. It is sad that it arrives late, more than 65 years after – as Jorge … Continue reading “October Books: Del Risco and Totalitarian Culture, Jorge Luis Arcos, Zoe Valdes, Juan Manuel Cao”
14ymedio, Havana, 4 August 2023 — The Cuban Conflict Observatory (OCC) registered a total of 589 protests on the island in July. The figure, which represents an increase of 124% compared to the same month of the previous year, exceeded by 175 incidents than those counted in June of 2022. Except for the months of October … Continue reading “NGO Reports that July 2023 is the Month with the Second Most Protests in Cuba Since July 2021”
Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 15 May 2023 – On 20 June 2022, the Cuban Language Academy (ACuL) sent out a laconic message: the poet Roberto Méndez, who should have led the institution until 2026, gave up his post “for health reasons”. His successor would be the essayist Jorge Fornet, the then vice-director and one of the … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Hijacked the Academy of Languages for Critcising Daniel Ortega”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico, 20 May 2023 — The Mexican academic Andrés Ordóñez regretted this Saturday the radicalisms in the debates on the Cuban Revolution and considered that they are not something exclusive to the Island but a trend in today’s world. “We are living in times of polarization. That intolerance, that propensity to disqualify … Continue reading “Polarization in Cuba Is Part of a General Crisis, Says Academic Andres Ordonez”
14ymedio, Havana, 28 February 2023 — Two events marked the discussions on Cuban literature this February: the Havana International Book Fair and the controversy over the documentary El caso Padilla (2022) [The Padilla Case], by Pavel Giroud. Cuban authors, editors and translators also dealt with issues such as the return to the Island from exile and … Continue reading “The Debate on ‘The Padilla Case’ Was the Main Cuban Cultural Event in February”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 January 2022 — The return of Detective Mario Conde, the adventures of Federico García Lorca in Havana and a fast-paced essay on the concentration camps on the Island marked the route of the Cuban book in 2022. 14ymedio proposes an account of the best titles from authors residing inside and outside the … Continue reading “2022, a Fertile Year Outside the Island for Books Linked to Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 December 2022 — About the actor Alexis Díaz de Villegas, who died in Havana at the age of 56, the writer Néstor Díaz de Villegas, his uncle, said that “Alexis had existed in the tragedy and for the tragedy.” However, many Cubans identified his elongated arms, his ironic and smiling face, and his … Continue reading “Alexis Diaz de Villegas, Cuban Actor and ‘Survivor’”