The work of the poet and essayist Caridad Atencio on Libro a la carta

The poet and essayist Caridad Atencio will be the guest of next Thursday’s Libro a la carta programme at the Fayad Jamís bookshop, hosted by the journalist and critic Fernando Rodríguez Sosa.

The public at the literary event will have the opportunity to purchase her collection of poems Historia de un abrazo and her book of essays De la escritura rota y restos de la memoria Apuntes en hojas sueltas de José Martí, published by Letras Cubanas and Oriente, the publishing houses of the Cuban Book Institute.

Her poetry, which invites us to contemplate, investigate and ponder upon the realities and dreams of humanity, comprises Los poemas desnudos, Los viles aislamientos, Umbrías, Los cursos imantados, Salinas para el potro, La sucesión, Notas a unas notas para L.A. and El libro de los sentidos.

Her collection of reflective prose books, based on extensive and thorough research on the national hero José Martí, includes the following books: Recepción de Versos sencillos: Poesía del metatexto, Génesis de la poesía de José Martí, Circulaciones al libro póstumo, Un espacio de pugna estética, La saga crítica de Ismaelillo, and De algunos poetas románticos mexicanos en Martí.

Her work has been published in several anthologies and periodicals in Cuba and abroad, and her poetry has been translated into English and Swedish.

Caridad Atencio holds a degree in Philology from the University of Havana and has been working as a research assistant at the Centro de Estudios Martianos in the last thirty years. Her awards include the Pinos Nuevos, Dador, Calendario and La Gaceta de Cuba prizes for poetry, literary criticism, and the Distinction for National Culture.

Libro a la carta is a monthly event that Rodríguez Sosa started in 2000 at the Fayad Jamís bookshop. Its purpose is to facilitate a dialogue with Cuban writers whose works contribute to the enrichment of contemporary literature on the island.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez