Alpidio Bautista Alonso Grau

Engineer in automatic control, poet and editor. Member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).

Born on November 5, 1963 in Dalia, Venegas, municipality of Yaguajay, province of Las Villas. Graduate in Electrical Engineering from the Central University of Las Villas.

He worked as an editor and directed the Sed de Belleza Editorial, a project of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS) to which he remains linked.

He founded and directed the newsletter Entrepáginas. Young Cuban troubadours have set to music poetic texts of his authorship. He was founder and scriptwriter of the radio program "La casa del fabulador", on the provincial station CMHW, in Villa Clara province; likewise he wrote and hosted for more than a year (2004 - 2005) the youth program promoting poetry and music "Nunca es Tarde", broadcast weekly by the national station Radio Progreso.

He founded and directed the art and literature magazine Dédalo, a publication of the Hermanos Saíz Association, an organization that brings together Cuban young writers and artists. He was also part of the Advisory Councils of the Umbral Magazine and the Letras Cubanas Publishing House.

At the First Congress of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS) held in October 2001, he was elected President of this organization of young writers and artists, a responsibility he held until December 2006. Between April 2007 and June 2008 he worked as vice president of the Cuban Book Institute (ICL).

He has participated in numerous national and international events, such as the UNEAC Congress (1998), World Festivals of Youth and Students (Algiers, Algeria, 2001; Caracas, Venezuela, 2005), Congress of the Hermanos Saíz Association (2001), Congress of the Union of Culture Workers (1999), Culture and Development Congress (2003, 2005 and 2007), Latin American Student Congress (Guadalajara, Mexico, 2002), International Conference for the Balance of the World (2003), VIII Congress of the UJC (2004), International Conference For All and For the Good of All (2005), International Meeting Against Terrorism for Truth and Justice (2005), University Meeting (2006).

He has also attended various cultural exchange meetings and events and gatherings of a political nature in countries of Europe and Latin America, such as Cuban Culture Week (Rome, Italy, 2002), Cuba-Venezuela Writers' Meetings (Caracas, Venezuela, 2004 and 2007), Meeting of Cuban and Mexican Writers (Mérida, Mexico, 2005), World Social Forum (Caracas, Venezuela, 2005), Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba (Viña del Mar, Chile, 2005), Summit of the Peoples (Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2005), Meeting of Civilizations (Rhodes, Greece, 2005), World Meeting of Intellectuals in Defense of Humanity (Rome, Italy, 2006) among others.

He is the coordinator of the Cuban Chapter of the Network of Networks in Defense of Humanity.

He currently directs the poetry magazine "Amnios", writes and hosts the radio program "Verso a Verso" which is broadcast weekly by Radio Metropolitana; and coordinates and hosts the poetic gathering "Amor de ciudad grande", which takes place monthly at the El Ateneo Bookstore in Havana.

Appointed in 2018 as Minister of Culture in replacement of Abel Prieto Jiménez.

Works
He has published the following poetry books:

La casa como un árbol (Sed de Belleza Editions, 1995)
Alucinaciones en el jardín de Ana (Prize of the Second Biennial of the Décima, Villa Clara, 1994, Capiro Editions, 1995)
El árbol en los ojos (Reina del Mar publishers, 1998)
Ciudades del viento (Calendar Prize, 1999, Abril Publishing House, 2001)
Tardos soles que miro (Abril Publishing House, 2007)
Idas (Unión Editions, 2012)
He is also author of the compilation: El tiempo está a favor de los pequeños. Versos cubanos para Roque Dalton, Letras Cubanas Publishing House, Havana, 2008.

His poems appear in the Anthologies of Cuban poetry:

Nuevos poetas cubanos (New Pines Collection, Letras Cubanas Publishing House, 1994)
Nuevos juegos prohibidos (Letras Cubanas Publishing House, 1997)
Toda luz y toda mía (Luminaria Editions, 1995)
Poesía espirituana (Luminaria Editions, 1994)
Todo el amor en décimas (Benchomo Publishing House, Canary Islands, 2000).
He has collaborated with the publications Huella, Umbral, Vitral, Vanguardia, Quehacer, Juventud Rebelde, El Caimán Barbudo, La Gaceta de Cuba, Honda, El Tintero, La Jiribilla, Alhucema (Spain), Revista de la Universidad (Honduras), Norte (Mexico), among others.

Critical works about his work have been published in La Letra del Escriba, Ariel, El Caimán Barbudo, La Gaceta de Cuba, Umbral, etc.

Awards and Recognition
Prize of the Second Biennial of the Décima, Villa Clara, 1994.
Calendar Prize, 1999.
Medal 210th Anniversary of the Founding of Santa Clara City.
Recognition 20th Anniversary of the Hermanos Saíz Association.
"Samuel Feijóo" Poetry Prize, Economic Society of Friends of the Country, 2011.