Georgina Herrera was a Cuban poet and radio scriptwriter, feminist and anti-racist. In Cuba she is considered one of the most genuine voices in Cuban literature of the 20th century.
She was born in Jovellanos in Matanzas province in 1936 and began to publish in her teenage years in newspapers and magazines in Havana.
In 1962 she worked at the Radio Progreso station in Havana, for which she wrote numerous drama series, short stories, and plays. She also worked in television and in film. She is co-author of the script for the short film ‘Raíces de mi corazón’, by Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando.
Her first poetry collection, G.H. appeared in 1962, and she always used themes that centre on gender, Afro-Cuban history, and the African legacy, with special emphasis on the lives of Black women.
Her poetry has been translated into several languages, included in anthologies, and is studied at universities in England, the United States, Germany, and Canada.
Bibliography
GH. La Habana, Editorial El Puente, 1962.
Gentes y cosas, , UNEAC, La Habana, 1974.
Granos de sol y luna, UNEAC, La Habana, 1978.
Grande es el tiempo, UNEAC, La Habana, 1989.
Gritos (Torre de Papel, 2004)
Gustadas sensaciones, Ediciones Unión, La Habana, 1996.
Golpeando la memoria (en coautoría con Daysi Rubiera), Ediciones Unión, La Habana, 2005.
Always Rebellious/Cimarroneando, Cubanabooks, 2014.
Poesía Completa, Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 2016
Georgina Herrera has been a jury member for prestigious competitions, including the Casa de Las Américas Prize and the Cuban National Literature Prize.
She received many awards for her writing including the Raúl Gómez García, Alejo Carpentier, Distinction for National Culture, ICRT Writer of Merit, Radio Diva and Radio Microphone, among others. She was honoured in 2011 at Columbia University, Missouri, for her contribution to the knowledge of the values of African identity and roots.
Georgina Herrera belongs to the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).
As an activist, Georgina Herrera has been part of several feminist and anti-racist initiatives and projects, such as the Afrocubanas Group, which was founded in Havana by fellow activists Inés María Martiatu, Paulina Márquez, Sandra Alvarez Ramírez, Daysi Rubiera and Carmen González.
On the International Day of Africa on 25 May 2021 the Casa de las Americas in Havana described the intense relationship between Africa and Cuba present in the poetic and testimonial work of Georgina Herrera as “conceived by [Herrera] as an exercise in the recovery and enhancement of the original ancestral space, a source of vindication of the personal marks of Afro-Cuban identity and rescue of the heritage of the ancestors. “
Georgina Herrera – Matanzas, April 23, 1936-Havana, December 13, 2021
Sources Directory of Afrocubanas , AfroCubaWeb
Georgina Herrera talks about her life and work – with english subtitles
Georgina Herrera reads her own poetry out loud in Spanish
Cuba 50 
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