The cultural programme Libro a la Carta will feature the poet, storyteller and cultural promoter Carmen Serrano Coello

Serrano Coello will be the guest on the cultural programme Libro a la Carta, hosted by the journalist and critic Fernando Rodríguez Sosa. The event will take place on Thursday 28 May at 11 am at the Fayad Jamís bookshop, located at 261 Obispo Street between Cuba and Aguiar in Old Havana.

Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase Cambios de estación, Carmen Serrano Coello’s latest collection of poems, published by Editorial Letras Cubanas, and enjoy a performance by tenor Bernardo Lichilín, who will sing poems by the author set to music. Communications Department of the Cuban Book Institute

The sonnets in Cambios de estación form a poetic guide reflecting the author’s lyrical discourse, exploring intimacy, the passage of time, and an existence immersed in philosophical thought and the lights and shadows of her inner world.

Carmen Serrano Coello, author of a wide-ranging body of work for adults, children and young people, was born in Sagua de Tánamo, Holguín, in 1939. She has published the poetry collections Por este medio and Una paloma de espuma, as well as the young adult novel La princesa de las aguas y el paisaje and the book of reflective prose De la poesía al ensayo.

Her texts appear in anthologies and periodicals both on and off the island, and have been translated into several languages.

Serrano Coello has received several honours, including the José María Heredia Poetry Prize, the Distinction for National Culture, the UNEAC 60^(th) Anniversary Seal, and the Samuel Feijóo Prize for Poetry on the Environment from the Economic Society of Friends of the Country. The latter was awarded in recognition of her lifetime’s work.

Carmen Serrano Coello is a member of both the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and the Economic Society of Friends of the Country.

Libro a la Carta is a monthly event created by Rodríguez Sosa in 2000 at the Fayad Jamís Bookshop. Its aim is to establish a dialogue with Cuban writers whose works enrich contemporary Cuban literature.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez