Marilyn Bobes

Marilyn Bobes León (born María de los Ángeles Bobes León; 1955 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban poet, novelist, literary critic and editor.

Bobes began her studies at University of Havana in 1974 and earned a bachelor's degree in History in 1978. She continued her professional life as a journalist working for major news outlets such as Prensa Latina and the magazine Revolución y Cultura. She made her debut in the field of poetry when her collection of poems La aguja en el pajar (published in 1979) won the David Literary Award for Poetry in 1979.

Later, in 1996, her collection of short stories, Alguien tiene que llorar (published in 1995) won the award Casa de las Américas.[1] This same year, Bobes published Estatuas de sal with Mirta Yáñez, a Cuban philologist, teacher and writer. Estatuas de sal was the first collection of fiction of Cuban female writers.[2]

She won the award Premio Latinoamericano de Cuento Edmundo Valdés in Mexico in 1993 and Premio de Cuento Hispanoamericano Femenino Magda Portal in Peru in 1994 for her poem "Alguien tiene que llorar."[3]

In 2005, she received the award Premio Casa de las Américas de Novela for her novel Fiebre de invierno, and in 2016 the award Julio Cortázar for her story "A quien pueda interesar."[3]

Furthermore, between 1993 and 1997 she served as vice president of the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, UNEAC).[4] In an interview she mentions she left UNEAC because she believed she could make a change in the world more effectively through her writing.[5]

She was married for six years to the writer Jean Portante from Luxembourg.[5][6] They met at a poetry festival in Macedonia.[7]

  1. ^ López-Cabrales, María Del Mar (2007). Arenas Cálidas En Alta Mar: Entrevistas a Escritoras Contemporáneas En Cuba. Santiago, Chile: Editorial Cuarto Propio. pp. 115. ISBN 978-9562603935.
  2. ^ Gonzalez, María Virginia (December 2015). "Estatuas de Sal: Urdimbres Para una Tra(D)ición de Escritoras Cubanas". Anclajes. 19: 24–40.
  3. ^ a b "Marilyn Bobes". Cuba Literaria. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Poeta cubana Marilyn Bobes | Isliada". www.isliada.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  5. ^ a b Bobes, Marilyn; Clark, Stephen J. (2004). "Conversación con Marilyn Bobes". Confluencia. 20 (1): 205–211. JSTOR 27923044.
  6. ^ Hölz, Karl; Bobes, Marilyn (1997). "Entrevista con Marilyn Bobes". Iberoamericana. 21 (2 (66)): 70–74. JSTOR 41671628.
  7. ^ López-Cabrales, María del Mar (1 January 2007). Arenas cálidas en alta mar : entrevistas a escritoras contemporáneas en Cuba. Editorial Cuarto Propio. ISBN 978-9562603935. OCLC 845496399.[page needed]