On Monday afternoon the poet Georgina Herrera died due to complications from the coronavirus, after several days admitted to the Salvador Allende hospital, La Covadonga in Havana. “Today, in Cuba, from covid, the great poet has just died”, he pointed in a post Puerto Rican writer Mayra Santos-Febres. “She was my majority. Now she is my Ancestor. I’m going to miss you, I already“.
Santos-Febres met Herrera in 2016 “one of the most genuine voices in 20th century poetry”, as is recognized by the official press. “She (Herrera) healed me with a few words of a pain that I did not know I carried,” he said, in addition, remembering that one of the dreams of the Cuban writer was to travel to Puerto Rico. “I looked for how to bring it on several occasions, but I don’t know what it gave me. Damn international policy that divides us into nationalities, sides, ideologies.”
Herrera’s literary heritage is accentuated by her feminist emphasis and the racial awareness she places on black women. This, published Cubadebate, “marked his close relationship with Africa and the vital heritage in Cuba, where he also worked as a scriptwriter for radio and television programs and film projects.”
Originally from Matanzas, Herrera was born on April 23, 1936 in the town of Jovellanos, and grew up in a family environment composed mostly of descendants of slaves. His prolific career began at the age of 16, when he began to publish in newspapers and magazines in Havana. And later he was part of the legendary literary group El Puente.
He was never awarded the National Prize for Literature, something that his followers have harshly criticized.
Her sensitivity and wisdom transferred her to literature where she was recognized as the Eternal Maroon of Cuban letters. In 1970 she was honored with the poetry award from the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. And he came to preside over the Writers Section of the Film, Radio and Television Association. However, he was never awarded the National Prize for Literature, something that has been harshly criticized by his followers.
“Simple and at the same time irreverent in his texts, he places us in front of a lyrical subject that celebrates irreverence, the poetic and cultural maroonage”, as he defined in their social networks the Cuban essayist Alberto Abreu Arcia to the personality of Georgina Herrera. “A voice that dislodges and subverts everything.”
Cuban poet and editor Teresa Melo shared his feelings on her Facebook wall: “Multiple voice, a woman written from her skin, her skins. Woman who wrote ‘how bad it is to die’, anticipated. Although it is now when she enters the river, where it is jungle, where she loves like a small stone , in rebound, in rebirth “.
Herrera’s work has been translated into several languages and the titles include People and things (1974), Sun and moon beads (1978), Cats and hares (1978), Great is time (1989), Liked sensations (1996) and Screams (2004). Among the recognitions, the Alejo Carpentier and Raúl Gómez García medals as well as the Distinction for National Culture stand out.
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