Nivaria Tejera
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Nivaria Tejera (born 1929) is a Cuban poet and novelist. She was awarded the Seix Barral Biblioteca Breve prize in 1971 for her novel Sonámbulo del sol. Tejera currently lives in Paris.
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[edit] Life
Nivaria Tejera, the daughter of a Cuban mother and a Spanish father, was born in Cuba in 1929. Before she was two, she moved with her parents to Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, where her father was taken prisoner at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He was not freed until 1944. After his release, the family returned to Cuba, where Tejera soon began to write and publish poetry. In 1954 she went to Paris and has continued to live in that city, except for brief periods— first in 1959, when she returned to Cuba to work for the Republic, and several years later, when she served for the Cuban government as a cultural attaché in Rome. In 1965, she broke her political ties to Cuba and returned to Paris.[1]
[edit] Works
Luz de lágrimas (poems)
La gruta (poems)
El barranco
Fuir la spirale
Sonámublo del sol
Espero la noche para soñarte, Revolución / J’attends la nuit pour te rêver, Révolution
The Ravine
Set in the Canary Islands at the outset of the Spanish Civil War, The Ravine is the provocative, disturbing account of a child’s experience with war. Narrated by an unnamed seven-year-old girl, the story begins in the early days of the war when her father—a staunch supporter of the Republic—goes into hiding. As the girl and her family await news of his whereabouts, they learn he is taken prisoner, brought to trial, and eventually sentenced to forced labor in a concentration camp. Confused and bereft, they visit him in the camp, hoping he will be spared the firing squad and the subsequent “burial” in the ravine, a fate that befalls so many prisoners. Acclaimed since its original appearance in French in 1958, The Ravine has been published in several languages and remains the novel for which Nivaria Tejera is best known. This is the first English translation. Published by SUNY Press, 2007.[2]
[edit] Awards
Tejera was awarded the Seix Barral Biblioteca Breve prize in 1971 for her novel Sonámbulo del sol.
[edit] Upcoming Appearances
New York Council for the Humanities
Cuba, France, and the Canary Islands: Nivaria Tejera’s Literary Exiles is a two-day conference that focuses on the discussion of literary works by Cuban-Canarian author Nivaria Tejera and her experience as a triple political exile. March 5-7 2008 in New York City[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Tejera, Nivaria. (2007). The Ravine, Albany: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7292-7
- ^ Tejera, Nivaria. (2007). The Ravine, Albany: SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7292-7
