Haus für Poesie

Raúl Paz is a major player in what is known as “new Cuban music”, with a musical style combining this with elements of hip hop, dub and rock to form a fusion of Salsa, jazz and electropop. In the mid-Nineties he was one of the protagonists of the New Cuban Wave. His album Mulata brought him his international breakthrough in 2003. Between 1996 and 2008 he lived in France – now he is back in Cuba. His music is lively, joyful and energetic. His lyrics sparkle with irony and fine wit, stories telling of life’s experiences full of love, separation, revolutionary drive and banality.

Discography:

Vidas, Bis Music, 2018

Ven Ven, Naïve, 2014

Havanization, Naïve, 2010

Amigos Live Barcelona, with Carmen París, Greta Habana Abierta, Negri, Rumor, 2008

En Vivo, Naïve, 2007

En Casa, Naïve, 2006

Revolución, Naïve, 2005

Mulata, Naïve, 2003

Blanco y Negro, RMM, 2000

Contigo, Kontor Records, 2000

Cuba Libre, Rue Bleu, 1999

Her name is Luz Cristina Despaigne Garrido, but in the world of music she is known as Luz de Cuba. She is a poet, Afro-Cuban, feminist and, since 2007, a well-known artist in the Cuban hip hop scene. Her work combines Spanish with Yoruba via electronic rhythms, which Luz describes as POEDANCE. She works with various producers including Xander Black and DJ Jigüe, and has performed with many jazz musicians including Yadasny Portiilo, Degnis Bofill, Jesus Pupo and Yasek Manzano. She was on the compilation album ¡Súbelo, Cuba!, produced by Gilles Peterson, Havanna World Music and Guámpara.

Discography:

Havana Cultura: ¡Súbelo, Cuba!, Brownswood 2018

Tinta y Pentagrama, Digital Album, Soundcloud 2015

Legna Rodriguez Iglesias (b. 1984 in Camaguey, Cuba) works in various different genres including poetry, short stories, novels, children’s books and theatre. For her poetry she has won a number of prestigious national and international prizes, most recently in 2016 the Premio Paz in Miami for her collection Miami Century Fox.

Publications:

Miami Century Fox, Akashic Books 2017

Mi novia preferida fue un bulldog francés, Alfaguara 2017

Chicle (ahora es cuando), Cuba Editorial 2016

Hilo + hilo, Bokeh 2015

No sabe/no contesta, Editorial Caja China 2015

Hasta Feldafing no paro y otros relatos, Editorial Letras Cubanas 2012

Awards:

Premio Paz in Miam 2016

Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (b. 1955 in Havana) is a poet, journalist, critic and translator. He has published fifteen books of verse, some of which have gained awards in Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica and Spain, most recently the Alfons el Magnànim Poetry Prize and the Premio Internacional de Poesía Fundación Loewe.

In the 80s Víctor Rodríguez Núñez was editor of the Cuban cultural journal El Caimán Barbudo. He has published many anthologies featuring Latin-American writers.

Publications:

Mit einem seltsamen Geruch nach Welt/ Con raro olor a mundo, Leipziger Literaturverlag 2015

Deshielos, Valparaíso Ediciones 2014

desde un granero rojo: poesía reciente, ElÁngelEditor Quito 2014

thaw/deshielos, Arc Publications 2013

desde un granero rojo, Hiperión 2013

Cuarto de desahogo: Antología personal, 1975–2010, Letras Cubanas Havana 2013

Reversos, Mantis Editores-Escritores de Cajeme 2011

Awards:

Premio Loewe 2015

Premio Alfons el Magnànim 2013

Premio Jaime Gil de Biedma, Accésit 2011

Premio Rincón de la Victoria 2010

Premio Leonor 2006

Premio Fray Luis de León 2005

Omar Pérez López, poet and translator, was born in Havana. His first collection of poems Algo de lo sagrado (Something Holy) was published in 1996. His work has appeared in anthologies in Cuba and abroad. In Cuba he contributes to such magazines as La Gaceta de Cuba and El Caimán Barbudo. In 1998 he published his Collected Poems 1994–98 under the title Oíste hablar el gato de pelea? (Have You Heard The Battlecats Talking?). Pérez loves twisting everything, questioning established convictions and eliciting the quirky side of things. “He writes with the intention of causing damage“.

Publications:

Cubanology, Station Hill Press of Barrytown 2018

Lo que es. Poetas de la lengua neerlandesa, ed. Arte y Literatura 2014

Crítica de la razón puta 2009

La perseverancia de un hombre oscuro (ensayo), Premio Nacional de la Crítica 2000

Oíste hablar del gato de pelea 1999

Algo de lo sagrado, Factory School 1996

Awards:

Premio Nacional de Poesía Nicolás Guillén 2010