MOUNT VERNON — Cuban poet and playwright Norge Espinosa will read from his work and discuss his life as an artist at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 12, on the second floor of Cole Library at Cornell College. Admission is free.
Espinosa, 30, is writer-in-residence for the University of Iowa International Programs and was a member of the university’s International Writing Program last fall.
“I want to talk and read to American audiences about several issues, which are connected with my personal life as a poet, playwright and critic in Cuba, and also to my work supporting gay and lesbian cultural expression in my country,” he says. “Who are we, the new generation of Cubans, as writers, actors, stage directors, painters and simple human beings.”
Since age 14 he has been collaborating with Cuban writers. At 17 he won the National Prize of Poetry from the cultural magazine El Caimán Barbudo for his book “Las Breves Tribulaciones” (“The Brief Tribulations”). Since then he has published a children’s book, “Los Pequenos Prodigios” (“Little Miracles”), and collections of poetry, plays and an anthology. His children’s play “Sácame del Apuro” (“The Charmed Shrimp”), performed by the theatrical group Pálpito, won several prizes including the National Festival of Performing Arts’ best text for children. Two of his poems, “Vestido de Novia” (“Bridal Gown”) and “Dejar la Isla” (“Leaving the Island”), are among the most widely anthologized poems by younger Cuban poets.
Espinosa is director of a Havana bookstore, Libreria el Ateneo, works as a production assistant for the magazine Revista Tablas and is one of the leaders of the theater Teatro el Público. For three years, he has organized a weeklong gay and lesbian cultural festival in Havana.