English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
With the recent presentation in Europe of my novel “The Summer When God Was Sleeping”, which won the Internation Franz Kaka Prize for Novels from the Drawer, convened in the Czech Republic, and the resumé of awards which accompany me, you could think that I am a very lucky writer when it comes to awards, … Continue reading “Prison Diary LXII: Award-Winning and Censored Books / Angel Santiesteban”
Miguel Ginarte (photo courtesy of the blog by Yusnaby) My mother always warned me that the Cuban government proceeds through their actions: “When they no longer need you, the squash you like a cockroach”. In the cultural media, it is well known that there are very few shows on Cuban TV that do not use … Continue reading “Prison Diary LX: Mr. Miguel Ginarte: the Guiding Light of Cuban TV / Angel Santiesteban”
The naiveté of Cubans on the island sometimes dresses itself up and asks my family if they’d really tortured me in prison. I remembered when, on the first beating, back in 2009, they fractured my arm, many doubted that fact because, some told me, State Security didn’t behave this way, given the scandal it would … Continue reading “Prison Diary XXXVII: Cowardice Disguised as Naivete / Angel Santiesteban”
Operation Truth Video & Transcript Site manager: We decided not to subtitle the video itself, given its length and poor sound quality, so a transcript is provided below and can be downloaded here. The video of Eliecer’s encounter with Ricardo Alarcon is available subtitled in English here. Yoani Sánchez: It’s a pleasure to be with you … Continue reading “Operation Truth – Video / Eliecer Avila and Yoani Sanchez”
UNEAC 50th Anniversary Gala: Esteban Lazo, Abel Prieto, Raul Castro, Miguel Barnet and one other official. Photo EFE/Alejandro Ernesto Prison Diary II. La Lima Prison. Book Fair? In the last days before going to prison, I managed to read several letters from friends who remembered that Book Fair in Havana where we got together and, … Continue reading “Prison Diary (II): Book Fair / Angel Santiesteban”
The writer Angel Santiesteban must turn himself in this Thursday to serve a five-year jail sentence. By Wilfredo Cancio Isla This morning, Thursday, February 28, 2013, a 46-year-old writer, considered one of the pillars of narrative of his generation, awarded the highest literary prizes of his country, will go to jail. Angel Santiesteban Prats must … Continue reading “My Imprisonment is an Embarrassment for the Cuban Intelligentsia #YoSoySantiesteban / Ángel Santiesteban”
By Amir Valle Ángel Santiesteban is a writer. It’s a truth so absolute that it can make whoever reads this think, “Amir Valle still doesn’t know what he’s going to write.” And he would be right. Because I could have begun by saying directly what I mean: “Ángel Santiesteban is a writer, but they want … Continue reading “For Shame! / Angel Santiesteban #Cuba”
FUCKED FASCISM The only time I left Cuba I went to the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in November-December 2002. There Mexico gave me a disheartening lesson. In Cuba, as we all knew already, we were heading towards a police state capitalism. But in Mexico I had a surprise that my restless imagination had … Continue reading “MEXICO DF, OF FIDEL / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
The year, 2050. The regime, still in power. The Coppelia ice cream stand, the most famous in Cuba, is in ruins, and tree roots have played havoc with the granite floor. Amid the rusty iron columns a couple of guys are trying to light a fire. They are rubbing two sticks together in the most … Continue reading “Really? Cubans Never Joke About the Revolution? / Yoani Sanchez”
This article- written by Luis Felipe Rojas Rosabal- was published on the digital newspaper “Diario de Cuba” on August 23rd, 2012. Every so often I cleanse my soul and body. Better said: I cleanse the area around my body, because I can’t cleanse my soul any more. I organize the room where I write in … Continue reading “Trash / Luis Felipe Rojas”
While it is considered a construction of State Security by some extreme anti-Castro types, and a creature of the CIA by the Cuban government’s cyber-Talibans, the independent Estado de Sats project successfully works for the promotion of civil society and the transition to democracy. Presumably the reasons that motivate both diametrically opposed interpretations of the … Continue reading “The Conspiracy Exposed: Who is Behind Estado de Sats? / Estado de Sats, Alexis Jardines”
Public spaces In a recent column I published an anecdote with which I’m sure you agree: our meeting in 2004, by chance, on the corner of Palacio de los Matrimonios in Vedado, after months without seeing each other, in which, very concerned about the political and cultural pressures you were under, you told me, “You’re … Continue reading “Interview of Cuban writer Ángel Santiesteban Prats by Amir Valle – Part 4 of 4”
In 2008, my book of stories Boring Home, was ready to be published by the State publisher Letras Cubanas (the cover was one of my photos). It was censored not for its contents but from the idiocy of Iroel Sanchez, with the permission of Abel Prieto and the traveling salesman Miguel Barnet from the United … Continue reading “Official Proof of Censorship Against My Book “Boring Home” / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Cuba is a country which has been narrated to the maximum. The poems, the essays, and the narratives have rummaged down to the core to bring out the best and worst of a nation, which in the process of trying to see itself has tried to be the belly of the world. Javier Negrin, a … Continue reading “The Continuity of the Island / Luis Felipe Rojas”
TODAY, PREMIERING AT THE EVENING CUBAN STATE OF SATS, IS THIS DOCUMENTARY BY RICARDO FIGUEREDO: AWAKENING … THE FILM WAS CENSORED AT THE LAST SAMPLE OF YOUNG DIRECTORS OF HAVANA 2012, WHICH LED TO THE DIGNIFIED RESIGNATION OF DIRECTOR FERNANDO PEREZ BEFORE THE PRESSURE OF THE SEGUROSOS (STATE SECURITY AGENTS) AND THE EX-MINISTER OF CULTURE … Continue reading “TO WAKE UP WITH RAUDEL PATRIOT SQUADRON / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”