Alexis Andrés Díaz Pimienta

He is a Cuban singer, narrator, poet, and improviser (repentista). He is a member of UNEAC (National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba). Director of the Experimental Chair of Improvised Poetry, and Sub-director of the Ibero-American Center of the Décima and Improvised Verse (CIDVI), both based in Havana, Cuba. Founder and director of the Oralitura Project, a multipurpose platform through which he brings the tradition of repentismo to the Internet era and new technologies. During the pandemic, Alexis Díaz Pimienta became famous with the broadcasts of the miniseries of his new book Chamaquili and the Pandemic in collaboration with La Colmenita.

He began singing on stage at age five and continued throughout his childhood. His father was a repentista and was the one who taught him and guided him. He revealed to him that wonderful world of improvised poetry, of oral poetry. In his house, since his birth, improvisers would gather to sing décimas. He was born immersed in that world and has always been part of it.

In 1972, when he lived on the Isle of Youth with his family, he made his debut at the National Grapefruit Festival, the largest festival held on that island. Later, he participated with improvisation in television programs (such as "Escenario escolar") and radio.

In 1988 his first son was born. When Axel was four years old, Alexis tried to create a teaching method for improvisation for his son. From this experience was born "The Pimienta Method" and one of his most important books: "Pimienta Method for Teaching Poetic Improvisation".

In the first decade of the 1990s he moved to live in Spain.
As a repentista, he has performed in theaters in more than thirty countries on five continents and has shared stages with renowned international artists such as Silvio Rodríguez, Jorge Drexler, Omara Portuondo, Compay Segundo, Javier Ruibal, Kiko Veneno, Amaury Pérez, David Blanco, Isaac Delgado, Kelvis Ochoa, Luis Barbería, Albita Rodríguez, Martín Buscaglia, Vicente Feliú, Mariana Carrizo, Silvana Sosto, Leo Minax, Daniel Drexler, etc.

He worked as a researcher at the Provincial Music Center of Havana "Antonio María Romeu" and as a researcher at the Provincial Music Center of Havana "Antonio María Romeu".

He has published several books of poetry and narrative that have earned him numerous national and international awards. He is the author of essay, novel, short story, poetry, and children's and youth literature books that have been translated into languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Finnish, Portuguese, Japanese, and Farsi. He is considered one of the greatest researchers and practitioners of repentismo at the international level.

Huiztel and Quetzal (short stories, Havana. Ediciones Extramuros, 1992),
Robinson Crusoe Saves Himself Again (Las Tunas. Editorial Sanlope, 1994),
Saturday's Visitors (Short story. Pinos Collection. Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1994),
Room of Bad Music (Poetry. Regional Editorial of Murcia, 1995, Antonio Oliver Belmás Award).
It Almost Never Rains in Almería (Surcos Poetry Prize. Qüasyeditorial, 1996),
Transit Passenger (Poetry. City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1996 City of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Prize),
The Sixth Face of the Die (Poetry. San Borondón Collection of the Canary Museum, 1997),
The Current Inhabitants of Cipango (Poetry, Editorial Unión, 1998).
Theory of Improvisation. First Pages for the Study of Repentismo (Editorial Sendoa. Oiarzun, 1998).
The Strange Case of the Boy Accused of Biting the Moon (poetry book).
Classic Tales in Verse (Editorial Selector, Mexico, 1998).
Prisoner of Water (novel, Alba editorial, 1998, Alba/Canary Press Prize).
Cursed Dance (novel, Alba).
I Too Could Have Been Louis Jacques Daguerre (Editorial Pre-textos. Emilio Prados Prize 2000) (also Editorial Letras Cubanas, 2005), illustrated by Orestes Castro
The Strange Case of the Boy Accused of Biting the Moon (Abril, 2004), illustrated by Orestes Castro
Salvador Galomón (2005).
Costume Party (2008).
Chocolate Smoothie and Other Bittersweet Stories (2012).
Chamaquili in Almería (2012).
Pedrito Mendrugo's Perfect Crime (2014).
Snow White (2017).
Erotic Diary of Robinson Crusoe (2017).
Haikus of the Tropics (2017).
Pimienta Method for Teaching Poetic Improvisation (2017).
Oxygen Traffickers (2017).
Sexual Desire of the Statues (2018).
The Anonymous Hurricane (2020).
Poems of Zoological Love (2020).

He possesses the Medal for Cuban Culture, which was awarded to him in 1996, for his artistic and literary work as a whole. His work Salvador Golomón (2006) reached the finals of the most recent Rómulo Gallegos Prize.

He has obtained prestigious international awards in Cuba, Mexico, and Spain (7 poetry prizes, 3 novel prizes, 3 short story prizes). He is the author of two theatrical works (Pastorela de la Habana vieja, Pastorela de la Isla) and a screenplay in verse (Ópera guajira or the Fever of the Land), in addition to several verse versions of classical works by Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, and Perrault, published in Mexico and Cuba under the title "Classic Tales in Verse"; he is also the author of "In a Place of La Mancha" (a verse version of Don Quixote of La Mancha).

In the year 2000, as an educator and cultural promoter, he founded the Honorary Chair of Improvised Poetry, based at the Faculty of Music of the University of the Arts of Havana, Cuba (currently, International Chair of Improvised Poetry and Other Oral Arts). He founded and directed in Granada, Andalusia, the Experimental School of Trovo of the Alpujarra (1998-2000), and the School of Singing for Poets of Málaga (in 2000). He founded and directed the Festival of Singing for Poets of Villanueva de Tapia in Málaga (2001-2010), the Minas Festival of Sierra Almagrera in Cuevas del Almanzora (2004-2012), and the World Championship of "Pies Forzados" in Havana (2010-2014).

He currently directs the Project of Specialized Workshops in Repentismo in Cuba, where hundreds of children of all ages study improvisation using as textbooks two of his most recognized works: "Theory of Poetic Improvisation" and "Pimienta Method for Teaching Poetic Improvisation". He has directed and organized 7 festivals and courses for child improvisers and 7 Methodological Seminars for Teaching Poetic Improvisation, both in Cuba and Spain. The courses, seminars, and lectures he has taught at universities and educational and artistic centers in Cuba, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States, Peru, Chile, and other countries have been about orality and poetic improvisation.

Awards
For his books he has obtained numerous national and international awards (in Cuba and Spain), among which the following stand out:

- Casa de las Américas Prize, 2019, children's and youth literature with Piel de noche.

- International Novel Prize "UNAM-COLSIN-SIGLO XXI" for his work The Perfect Crime of Pedrito Mendrugo.

- Honorable Mention in the Children's and Youth Literature category of the International Prize "Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz", for his work "The Book of Children Who Wear Glasses".

- Ibero-American Short Stories Prize "Cortes de Cádiz", 2014, for his book Card Exchange".

- Prize "Mirror Doors", 2010, for the most-read Cuban author on the national network of Libraries of Cuba, for his novel Prisoner of Water.

- National Prize for Children's Literature "La Rosa Blanca", 2009, in Havana, Cuba, for Chamaquili in the Bathroom.

- International Poetry Prize "Los Odres", 2008, in Murcia, Spain, for Costume Party.

- Mention (or Accessit) in Poetry of the International Prize "Casa de las Américas", 2008, for Oxygen Traffickers.

- National Prize for Children's Literature "La Rosa Blanca", 2007, in Havana, Cuba, for Good Morning, Chamaquili.

- Finalist for the International Novel Prize "Rómulo Gallego", 2007, in Caracas, Venezuela, for Salvador Golomón.

- National Prize for Children's Literature "La rosa blanca", 2006, in Havana, Cuba, for Chamaquili, Chamaquili!

- Finalist for the International Novel Prize "Ateneo de Sevilla", 2004, in Seville, Spain, for Salvador Golomón.

- International Novel Prize "Luis Berenguer", 2004, in Cádiz, Spain, for Salvador Golomón.

- Finalist for the International Poetry Prize "City of Melilla", 2004, in Melilla, Spain, for Oxygen Traffickers.

- Finalist for the International Poetry Prize "Antonio Machado-Los Trenes", 2004, in Madrid, Spain, for Melancholy Station.

- Ibero-American Décima Prize "Cucalambé", 2003, in Las Tunas, Cuba, for Confessions of a Left Hand.

- International Poetry Prize "Emilio Prados", 2000, in Málaga, Spain, for I Too Could Have Been Jacques Daguerre.

- International Novel Prize Alba/Canary Press, 1998, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, for Prisoner of Water.

- International Poetry Prize City of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1996, for Transit Passenger.

- International Poetry Prize "Surcos", 1996, in Coria del Río, Seville, for It Almost Never Rains in Almería.

- International Poetry Prize "Antonio Oliver Belmás", 1994, in Murcia, for Room of Bad Music.

- National Décima Prize "Cucalambé", 1993, Las Tunas, for Robinson Crusoe Saves Himself Again (co-written with David Mitrani).

- National Short Story Prize "Luis Rogelio Nogueras", 1991, City of Havana, for Huitzel and Quetzal.

- National Short Story Prize "July 26", 1990.

- National Short Story Prize "Ernest Hemingway", 1989.