Daína Chaviano
| Daína Chaviano | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
19 February 1957 Havana, Cuba |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Cuban-American |
| Genre | Fantasy, science fiction, mainstream, historical fiction |
| Notable works | The Island of Eternal Love |
| Relatives | César Évora (cousin) |
| Website | |
| www |
|
Daína Chaviano (Spanish: [daˈina tʃaˈβjano]) (born 1957) is a Cuban writer.
She is considered one of the three most important female fantasy and science fiction writers in the Spanish language, along with Angélica Gorodischer (Argentina) and Elia Barceló (Spain), forming the so-called “feminine trinity of science fiction in Latin America.”
In Cuba, she published several science fiction and fantasy books, becoming the most renowned and best-selling author in those genres in Cuban literature. Since leaving the island, she has distinguished herself with a series of novels incorporating historical and more contemporary matters as well as mythological and fantastic elements.
When she had barely begun her university studies, she won the first science fiction competition ever organized in Cuba with her short story collection Los mundos que amo (The Worlds I Love). After earning a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature at the University of Havana, she established the first science fiction literary workshop in her country, which she named “Oscar Hurtado” in honor of the father of that genre on the Caribbean island.
In 1991 she left Cuba, establishing residency in the United States, where she worked as a translator, columnist, and editor.
In 1998 she achieved international recognition when she was awarded the Azorín Prize for Best Novel in Spain for El hombre, la hembra y el hambre. This work forms part of her series «The Occult Side of Havana», together with Casa de juegos, Gata encerrada, and La isla de los amores infinitos (The Island of Eternal Love, Riverhead Books, 2008). The series has been described as “the most coherent novelistic project of its generation, indispensable for understanding the social psychology and spiritual vicissitudes of the Cuban people.”
In 2004 she was guest of honor at the 25th International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) in the United States. It was the first time that honor had ever been conferred on a Spanish-language writer.
The Island of Eternal Love has been published in 25 languages, making it the most widely translated Cuban novel of all time.
She is the cousin of the Cuban Mexican actor César Évora.
...
Wikipedia