XClose

UCL Institute of the Americas

Home
Menu

Celebrating the capital city of Cubanness: Havana at 500

13 November 2019, 4:30 pm–5:30 pm

Havana

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

Emily Morris

Location

103
Institute of the Americas
51 Gordon Square
London
WC1H 0PN
United Kingdom

This anthology is the first collection of short stories from the City of Havana  to be published in the UK since the 1990s. It brings together tales from the suffering of the Cuban people in the ‘Special Period’ to the current chaotic life in Havana in the 21st century. They are imaginative fictions, from two generations of Cuban writers, in “times of revolution”: from Eduardo Heras Leon, the well-known man of letters, to a very fresh author, Eduardo Angel Santiesteban, whose captivating story in this anthology demonstrates why he is considered to be the most exciting voice in Cuban young fiction today.

Why study Literature and why are anthologies important? When was the first British anthology of Cuban literature published and why? What do Latin American Studies owe to J. M. Cohen (1903-1989)? All these are important questions that need to be continuously asked and framed.

Jorge Luis Borges once wrote: 'una literatura nacional es algo así como el “diario íntimo” de una nación'. In the same manner, these three books of Cuban literature could be described in English as 'intimate diaries', memorable testimonies of the intellectual life of the Cuban nation. The works in these books were selected on literary merit and are all are worthwhile in helping provide a rough idea of some of the work being done in Cuba from 1959 until today, in the 21st century.

Speaker: Dr Vladimir Smith-Mesa