Professor Juanamaria Cordones-Cook's documentary work on renowned Cuban poet Nancy Morejón.
First International Festival of Poetry of Resistance was held in Toronto from April 24 to 30, 2009. Poets and musicians from around the world performed in Toronto. This festival in Toronto was dedicated to The Cuban Five.
Nancy Morejón:An Example ofCommitment to Literature
Poet, playwright and essayist, Nancy Morejón is one of the most representative female voices in Cuban contemporary literature. Yeniela Cedeño
At present, an anthology on the history of Cuban poetry written by women would be incomplete if it does not include the poems of Nancy Morejón. This is not merely a simple or trivial opinion; it is above all recognition to the literary work of a black Cuban woman that considers herself profoundly committed to the universe of letters.
Of humble origin and with African predecessors on the father’s part, and Chinese and European roots on the mother’s, Nancy Morejón was born in Havana on August 7, 1944.
Since a very early age, she was a restless reader and as an adolescent she already had written her first verses. In 1962, in her 18s, she had her first book published, Mutismo.
On several occasions when interviewed, Morejón revealed her almost irrational need to write and her wish that her words turned into bridges uniting people and cultures, to thus enhance exchange of identities. Because of her devotion to writing, Nancy Morejón has gifted us with essays and poems, which have been translated into various languages.
In her work, she makes emphasis on issues related to the black race and the female universe. Topics such as love, racial integration, the history of slavery in Cuba and in the Caribbean, manners and habits of the people, and the national system among others, break into her poetic discourse.
Her first book was followed by other publications that have been worthy of prestigious national and international acknowledgements. In 1994, and for her life achievements, she was granted the Yari-Yari Prize of the University of New York. Other relevant distinctions include the 2001 National Literature Prize, the Macedonian Struga Gold Crown in 2006, and in 2007 she received the Rafal Alberti Prize at the 12th International Festival of Poetry of Havana.
Her book of poems, Persona, published in 2010 by Colección Sur de Ediciones Unión publishing house, and with prologue by prominent Cuban playwright Gerardo Fulleda León, is a search for the identity of being a woman that travels from the individual to the universal space. And this is far from being an incidental fact, because in many of her creations, black women are the protagonists.
Critics have termed Morejón a follower of the legacy of poet Nicolás Guillén, and this is attributed to her peculiar way, which we all Cubans have, of making humor, and to her black identity in Cuban culture, both of which she incorporates into her poems.
Poetry is not the only focus in her work, she has written essays on Afro-Caribbean poets, the theme in her Doctors Degree Thesis. As to national poet Nicolás Guillén, whom she knew, she published in 1982 Nación y Mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén. For this book she received two distinctions: the Enrique José Varona National Essay Prize granted by the National Association of Writers and Artists of Cuba and the Mirta Aguirre Prize.
In the saying of Nancy Morejón, she never could abandon that literary genre because she is fond of investigating and drawing out her own conclusions on the topics in which she becomes immersed. Her undertaking as translator of Caribbean literature, of which she considers herself part and upholder, has contributed to spread knowledge about the region in our country.
World renowned Caribbean celebrities such as Jacques Roumain, René Depestre and Édouard Glissant, among many others, have all been translated by her for Cuban publishing houses.
According to our researcher here, what is Caribbean is not circumscribed to a geographic issue: “the Caribbean is a cultural concept.” Now, based on this precept, Caribbean culture is liable to be present in certain regions of Brazil and in others, and despite located distant from the Caribbean Sea, they take up the regional spirit.
She has been a contributor to many national literature journals such as El Caimán Barbudo, Unión, La Gaceta de Cuba and Casa de las Américas.
In addition to her active participation in events, poetry festivals and congresses in diverse nations, she has lectured on Cuban and Caribbean culture in universities of the United States, Latin America and Spain.
Nancy Morejón is Numerary Member of the Cuban Academy of Spanish Language and Member of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. She was conferred the award Machete Replica of Máximo Gómez and the Official Badges of the Order to Merit of the Republic of France.
*Translation by Gilda Gil
Copyediting LACH