Wendy Guerra

Wendy Guerra (born 11 December 1970), formally Wendy Guerra Torres Gomez de Cadiz, is a Cuban poet and novelist. After a brief career acting in Cuban film and television, she turned to writing and won recognition more readily abroad than within Cuba. Her works have been translated into thirteen languages.[1] She has been described as "a kind of diva of contemporary Cuban literature".[2]

Wendy Guerra
Born (1970-12-11) 11 December 1970
Havana, Cuba
OccupationWriter
LanguageSpanish
NationalityCuban
GenresPoetry, novel

Biography

Guerra was born on 11 December 1970 in Havana in what she later described as "a small provincial hospital". Her family soon moved to Cienfuegos on Cuba's southern coast.[3] Her mother Albis Torres was an unpublished poet[4]. Her father was Cuban playwright[5] Raúl Guerra, who died alcoholic and begging for alms on the streets[6]. She has a half brother, plastic artist Sandro Guerra García[7].

Guerra's first collection of poems, Platea a oscuras, won her a prize from the University of Havana. She then earned a degree in film, radio and television direction at Havana's Instituto Superior de Arte.[2] She appeared on Cuba's first morning television show, Buenos Días, where she read children's stories.[1] She worked as an actress on Cuban television and in film, but considers her abilities limited, though she found the experience useful as a student of character and interpretation.[8] Her film credits include Hello Hemingway (1990).[9]

She kept diaries that formed the basis for her first novel, Todos se van (Everyone Leaves), which was published in Spain. The novel follows its young protagonist through childhood and adolescence in Cuba. The novel was adapted into the screenplay for a film directed by the Colombian Sergio Cabrera.[10] Cabrera shot the film in Cuba and was later screened at the Havana Film Festival.[11]

She received the Carbet des Lycéens prize (Prix Carbet des lycéens) in 2009.[12] In 2010, France named her a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.[13]

Guerra published her novel Posar desnuda en la Habana (Posing Nude in Havana) in 2012, after conducted research in Havana and Paris and read Nin's unexpurgated diaries. In the novel, extracts from Nin's diaries are interwoven with fictional entries.

In 2013, she published Negra in Spain, a first person narrative of racial discrimination in post-Revolutionary Cuban society.[14]

In 2014, she and another Cuban writer, William Navarrete, were prevented from speaking at a literary festival in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), by the government of Bolivian President Evo Morales which anticipated they would criticize Bolivia's suppression of free speech.[15]

Later that same year (2014), her novel Posar desnuda en la Habana was published in Cuba, and was presented during the 23rd Havana's International Book Fair.[16]

In 2016 Guerra published Domingo de Revolución (Revolution Sunday) in Spain, the story of a Cuban author who publishes a book of poems in Europe and is the object of suspicion by both the Cuban government and Cuban dissidents.

Guerra's writing has appeared in such magazines as Encuentro, La gaceta de Cuba, and Nexos, as well as in magazines devoted to the visual arts. She has been a guest lecturer at Princeton University[17] and Dartmouth College.[18]

She is married to jazz pianist Ernán López-Nussa.[4]

Poetry
  • Platea a oscuras (1987)
  • Cabeza rapada (1996)
  • Ropa interior (Bruguera, 2009)
    • A Cage Within (Harbor Mountain Press, 2013); translated by Elizabeth Polli

Novels
  • Todos se van (Everyone's Leaving) (Barcelona: Bruguera, 2006)
  • Nunca fui primera dama (I was never the grand dame) (Barcelona: Bruguera, 2008)
  • Posar desnuda en La Habana (Posing Nude in Havana); Alfaguara (2012), Letras Cubanas (2013)
  • Negra (Editorial Anagrama, 2014)
  • Domingo de Revolucion (Anagrama, 2016)
    • Revolution Sunday (2018); translated by Achy Obejas
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References
  1. Atkins, Margaret (January 2015). "Wendy Guerra, Havana's literary darling". La Habana. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  2. Vázquez, Yailuma (1 July 2014). "Wendy Guerra: Postmodern Updating of the Diary as a Genre". Cuba Now. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  3. Méndez Alpízar, L. Santiago (27 September 2013). "Guerra al silencio". El Pais (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  4. "Literature, Wendy Guerra, Writer". Havana Cultura. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  5. País, El (2011-10-04). "Entrevista con Wendy Guerra". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  6. Guerra, Wendy (11 Nov 2016). "Cuba y la puesta en escena revolucionaria". El Nuevo Herald. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  7. "Otra madre | Habáname | Blogs | elmundo.es". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  8. Sanchez, Yoani (9 February 2015). "Cuban Author Wendy Guerra: 'I'm a Demon Who Writes What She Feels'". HuffPost Latino Voices. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  9. Garcia, Juan Antonio (2001). Guía crítica del cine cubano de ficción (in Spanish). Arte Y Literatura. p. 166.
  10. "El colombiano Sergio Cabrera rueda el filme 'Todos se van', basado en la novela de Wendy Guerra". Diario de Cuba (in Spanish). 16 October 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  11. "Colombian Filmmaker Takes Cuban Novel to the Big Screen". Havana Times. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  12. "Le prix Carbet des lycéens pour Wendy Guerra". France-Guyane (in French). 20 January 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  13. "Wendy GUERRA reçoit les insignes de Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres". French Embassy in Cuba (in French). Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  14. Clermont, Thierry (13 November 2014). "Negra de Wendy Guerra : colonnes d'ébène". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  15. "Escritores cubanos censurados por Evo Morales en festival literario". El Nuevo Herald (in Spanish). 13 November 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  16. "Wendy Guerra, la novela". La Habana Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 Jun 2019.
  17. "Visiting Faculty, 2015-2016". Princeton University Program in Latin American Studies. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  18. "Lecture by Cuban Poet/Novelist Wendy Guerra". Dartmouth College Department of Spanish and Portuguese. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
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