Looking for Cuban literature for gifts? Here is a range of short stories to poetry.
Nancy Morejon: Homing Instincts Collection of poems by world famous black Cuban female poet laureate Nancy Morejon. The theme is love, in all its forms – from romantic love to familial love to love for her country and people. Poetry with depths of passion and pride and a mesmerising and lyrical voice. The poems are presented in spanish with English translation and most have never appeared in English before. Buy the book here
Aida Bahr: Ophelias This set of 8 short stories won the writer the Alejo Carpentier Short Story Prize and the National Critics prize when first published in Cuba. Each of Bahr’s re-imagined 21st century Ophelias is a female protagonist being pushed to the edge of madness. One has misplaced her baby and doesn’t know what to tell the police, one is about to kill her racist and controlling father; a young university teacher struggles with a bullying mother; a teenager is determined to impress her boyfriend; a woman whose husband has just died wonders how well she knew him; a young girl is left with her terrifying great grandmother in the middle of nowhere. Read review and buy the book here
Various writers: The Book of Havana – a city in short fiction The editor of these 10 short stories by Cuban writers describes the essence as “physical, emotional and psychological deterioration”. But this book actually reveals a short story scene that is full of life – with different styles, observation points, approaches and ages of writers as well as different views of the city. Read review and buy the book here
Nicolas Guillen: Yoruba from Cuba Dual language collection of poems by Cuba’s national poet Guillen who, before and after the revolution, was a pioneer in embracing the African identity in Cuba. “The superb translations by Salvador Ortiz-Carboneres are set alongside the original poems in Spanish and capture Guillén’s pioneering use of language and the magical rhythms of Cuban music. Both were key to Guillén’s attempt to create a national poetry, during a time when Black identity was denied a voice in a country striving for white ‘purity’. This collection ranges across Guillén’s entire oeuvre and is utterly relevant for our times, showing that from his earliest work onwards he constantly returned to themes of race and the historical legacies of colonialism and slavery, both in the Caribbean and the USA.” Read a review and buy the book here
Miguel Barnet: Biography of a Runaway Slave Fundamentally important life story of Esteban Montejo, a cimarrón, or runaway slave, who shared his story with Cuban writer Miguel Barnet in this “testimony” to living in slavery and fighting in the Cuban War of Independence. Buy here
Pedro Perez Sarduy: The Maids of Havana Compelling novel based on the stories and memories of the mother of poet/writer Sarduy. Set in Cuba and the USA, from 1938 to the 1990s, two Afro-Cuban women tell their stories. The book asks what life was like for Afro-Cubans before the Cuban revolution, since and what issues black Cubans who left Cuba after the revolution faced. Race, class, gender and nation are all examined. Read review and buy here
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