In December, the second season of the series named LITERARY WEDNESDAYS will continue with the support of the Delegation of Florida of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE), Baquiana Literary Magazine, Baquiana Editions, and the Spanish Cultural Center of Miami (CCEMiami). In this occasion, we will have the presence of the distinguished essayist, researcher and editor MAYRA DEL CARMEN HERNÁNDEZ MENÉNDEZ, in order to talk about the second edition of her awarded book of essays Hombres necios que acusáis… Estudio sobre el discurso femenino en la décima en Cuba [Foolish men who accuse… Study about the feminine discourse in the Cuban decima] (Berlin: Iliad Editions, 2022).

Every second Wednesday of the month, the series LITERARY WEDNESDAYS invites different authors, in order to continue with the contribution to the cultural development of the community and the promotion of the language and literature in Spanish in the United States of America. The programs are coordinated and conducted by Maricel Mayor Marsán, president of the Florida Delegation of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE) and director of Baquiana Literary Magazine.

The event will take place through the digital platform ZOOM of the CCEMiami. 

Date: Wednesday, December 14 of 2022.

Hour: 7:00 PM

The event is FREE and it will be conducted in SPANISH.

In order to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83335003253

www.ccemiami.org | [email protected]

Information about the book:

With the edition of Foolish men who accuse… Study about the feminine discourse in the Cuban decima, the essayist, researcher and editor Mayra del Carmen Hernández Menéndez delivers to us —by the Collection Cuadernas of the prestigious Íliada Ediciones, directed in Germany by the Cuban narrator, essayist, literary critic and journalist Amir Valle— an essay of notable dimension about the feminine discourse in the Cuban decima, a singular topic that has never been approached in the Island.

The essay, awarded with the Prize «Reason of Being» 1999, of the Alejo Carpentier Foundation and published two decades ago in Cuba, reappears now, with important additions added by the author, who was born in Cuba and has been a resident in Miami for more than a decade, has extended her research and analysis, adding and enriching her work with other authors of the exile community. That is the reason why the book has an index called Twenty years later. 

(Rigoberto Díaz Cutiño, Cuban poet and writer)

Information about the author:

MAYRA DEL CARMEN HERNÁNDEZ MENÉNDEZ

She was born in Havana, Cuba. She graduated with a Bachelor in Language and Hispanic Literatures, at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Havana. From 1968 to 1973, she worked as an elementary school teacher, and later, in the Provincial Direction of Education. On December 1973 she worked as editor at the Cuban Institute of the Book, in the editorials Orbe, Arte and Literature and, since 1994, in Cuban Letters. She conducted courses of edition in the Editorial Sanlope of Las Tunas, and in Matanzas Editios, of that city.

As an editor she has worked with the works of Latin American authors and Cubans in narrative, poetry and theater: Miguel de Unamuno, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Benito Pérez Galdós, Ramón María del Valle Inclán, Gabriel Miró, Miguel Hernández, José Luis Sampedro, Rubén Darío, César Vallejo, Ricardo Güiraldes, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Gastón Baquero, Serafina Núñez, Rafaela Chacón Nardi, Carilda Oliver Labra, Francisco de Oraá, Abelardo Estorino y Héctor Quintero, only to mention a few, like some Cuban authors of the new generations, among others.

She was the editor of the significant magazine Opción (that saw the light around the nineties of the past century, through the Art and Literature Editorial, in which were published the texts of writers that were censored in Cuba, such as Anna Ajmatova, Boris Pasternak and Milan Kundera, among others).

She has won several national prizes for three of her books of essays, such as the Prizes «Reason of Being» (Alejo Carpentier Foundation), «The Golden Age» (New People Editorial) and «New Pines» (Cuban Letters Editorial).

Active Bibliography:

The poetry of Rafaela Chacón Nardi (Prize of Essay «New Pines» in its second call), Letras Cubanas Editorial, 1996; Message to Jonás. About the femenine discourse in the decima for children in Cuba (Prize of Essay «The Golden Age», 1998), New People Editorial, 2001; Foolish men who accuse… Study about the feminine discourse in the Cuban decima (Prize of Essay «Reason of Being», 1999), Oriente Editorial, 2001.

Besides, she has prologued, edited, and published the following volumes:

De amor y de sombra, by Isabel Allende, prologue and edition, Art and Literature Editorial, 1980; La amada inmóvil y otros poemas, by Amado Nervo, selection and edition, Art and Literature Editorial, 1987; El conservador, of the Nobel Prize of Literature Nadine Gordimer, prologue and edition, Art and Literature Editorial, 1988; Un leopardo en la cumbre de un volcán, anthology of short stories by Poli Delano, prologue and edition, Art and Literature Editorial, 1989; Con estos versos, poetic anthology by Mario Benedetti, selection and edition, Art and Literature Editorial, 1991; Nadie impedirá la lluvia, selection of short novels and short stories from Angola, prologue and edition, Art and Literature Editorial, 1992; Vuelta de hoja, poetry book by Rafaela Chacón Nardi, selection, prologue and notes, Vigia Editions, Matanzas, 1995; Nuevos juegos prohibidos (Young poets of Cuba), selection, introductory note and edition, Cuban Letters Editorial, 1997; Mínimo paraíso, book of decimas by Rafaela Chacón Nardi, compilation, prologue and notes, Matanzas Editions, 1997; Arco tenso, poetry book by Teresita Fernández, selection and prologue, Sed de Belleza Editors, Santa Clara, 1999; Rosa de mi mansedumbre, book of decimas by Serafina Núñez, selection, prologue and notes, Capiro Editions, Santa Clara, 2000; Del íntimo esplendor, poetic anthology by Rafaela Chacón Nardi, selection, prologue, notes and edition, Cuban Letters Editorial, 2000; Error de magia, poetic anthology by Carilda Oliver Labra, selection and edition, Cuban Letters Editorial, 2000; Confesiones de Circe. Poetisas-decimistas orientales, selection and prologue, The Sea and the Mountain Editorial, 2004; Ámbito de amar, all the love poetry by Rafaela Chacón Nardi, selection, prologue and notes, Cuban Letters Editorial, 2006. 

In Cuba, she published book reviews, articles and cultural interviews in different magazines and newspapers at the national and provincial level. Since her arrival to Miami, more than a decade ago, she has collaborated with Baquiana Literary Magazine (in its two versions, printed and digital), and in other publications and blogs in the Internet, such as Esquife, El Exégeta, Palabra Abierta y NeoClub Press. At the beginning of 2022 «Iliad Editions» in Germany, published a second publication of her book Foolish men who accuse… Study about the feminine discourse in the Cuban decima (Prize of Essay «Reason of Being», 1999), twenty years later after its first edition.

Information about the presenter:

MARICEL MAYOR MARSÁN 

She was born in Santiago of Cuba. She is a poet, narrator, playwright, essayist, editor, literary critic, translator, director of the Editorial Board of Baquiana Literary Magazine, numerary member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE), and correspondent member of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). She has published more than twenty books in different literary genres. Her most recent books of poetry are: Rumores de Suburbios (2009) and Miami / poemas de la ciudad – poems of the city (2015). Of theater: Trilogía de Teatro Breve (2012) and Las Tocayas (2013). Of essays, notes and literary reviews: Crónicas Hispanounidenses (2014). Her work has been partially translated into several languages, as well as published in magazines and anthologies in Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and the USA. She has received some awards and acknowledgements in Chile and the United States. She participated in the writing of the first “Encyclopedia of Spanish in the United States” (Yearbook of the Cervantes Institute) in Madrid, Spain (Santillana, 2008). The publishing house Holt, Rinehart & Winston included her poetry in the text books: Exprésate (2006- 2010) and Cultura y Lenguaje (2007-2010), used in the study of Spanish in middle and high schools throughout the United States. In the year 2010, she was selected among the most outstanding 100 Latinos of Miami for her work and contribution to the culture.