Ana María Muñoz Bach

An important Cuban publisher, she has to her credit a long list of published works, and as a generous woman, a friend of exceptional feelings, she has known how to blend all those virtues in the mark of her passage through the long editorial path she has traveled.

Her entry into this world originates, in large measure, within a talented family whose environment of study and culture nourished her spirit and personal development with very special sensitivity.

Her mother, María Bachs Fornés, was a prestigious figure in television adaptations; her father, Eduardo Muñoz Nicart, a recognized radio writer, and her brother, Eduardo Muñoz Bachs, a graphic artist with a renowned trajectory among Cuban illustrators, and with a considerable number of national and international awards. Hence her vocation for culture, wisdom and affection for books and everything that derives from them.

She was born in Paris. She completed primary and secondary education at Colegio Baldor, from which she graduated as a Bachelor of Letters, and from 1958 to 1960 she received studies at the Professional School of Advertising. She graduated with a degree in Hispanic Language and Literature from the University of La Habana in 1979 and in English language from the Jorge Dimitrov School. She also conducted postgraduate studies on Cuban literature in the 1980s, taught by professor Dolores Nieves.

With an extensive and diverse work history—office worker at Canal 12 Color Television (1957-1958), market research assistant at Soria, Ruiz y Cía Advertising Agency (1958-1960) and at Consolidado de la Publicidad (1960-1961), among other positions—she began her involvement with the editorial sphere in 1964, at the Editorial of the Ministry of Education, later Editora Pedagógica, attached to the Editorial Nacional de Cuba. In the latter she was part of (1966) one of the groups that would become the Institute of the Book a year later.

From 1967 to 1969 she was the first director of the newly created Gente Nueva Editorial Series of the Institute of the Book, and from 1969 to 1977, proofreader, editor and publisher at Arte y Literatura. In 1977 she joined, as editor, the technical staff of Editorial Letras Cubanas, of which she is a founder.

Ana María Muñoz Bachs has a fruitful published body of work that encompasses prestigious figures of Cuban literature, both for luxury collections of Editorial Letras Cubanas and for other collections of this same institution. She has also collaborated with other entities: Editorial Fernando Ortiz, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, Editorial Ateneo and National Council of Plastic Arts. In the latter she has conducted style review and correction of the ArteCubano magazine since 1996, as well as the ArteCubano News tabloid, since its debut. She also participated in the team that edited the catalogues of Universal Art and Cuban Art, which were published following the inauguration of the restored museums.

She has been a jury member for the "Razón de Ser" Prize 2000 (narrative) and the literary competition for the blind and visually impaired (poetry and short story) held in the Playa municipality. She attends presentations of books she has edited and has traveled throughout the country on tours with authors awarded in the "Alejo Carpentier" Competition (Antón Arrufat, Jaime Sarusky and Reinaldo Montero) in the novel genre.

At the tribute that the Ateneo bookstore organized on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Virgilio Piñera's death, she was invited and read a work of her own dedicated to the poet and playwright. Her articles related to literature and creators have appeared in Revolución y Cultura, Bohemia and Opina.

She was an editorial collaborator of the humorous section La Bobería of Bohemia magazine, with its creator, H. Zumbado. She published original articles of her own, humorous and critical pieces, in that section.

She has worked creatively in advertising campaigns for different tourist destinations and scripts for product presentations commissioned by the Cuba Division of the Sol Meliá Chain.

She participates in activities and research related to Spanish Republicans and their descendants settled in Cuba and other countries, as well as in the International Colloquium that takes place for these purposes in Cuba on a biennial basis. She presides over the Quality Commission of Editorial Letras Cubanas and has in preparation the book Memorias de una editora.

Awards
National Publishing Prize of Cuba in 2002.

National Recognition
Distinction for National Culture
Raúl Gómez García Distinction
Personality of Culture

Published Works
Luxury Collection
Cecilia Valdés, La joven de la flecha de oro y otros relatos, by Cirilo Villaverde.
Mi tío el empleado, by Ramón Meza
Las impuras and Las honradas, by Miguel de Carrión
Caniquí, by José Antonio Ramos
Essays and Poetry, by Juan Marinello
Poetry and Prose, by Rubén Martínez Villena
Poetry, by Regino Pedroso
Prose, by Eliseo Diego
Letters, by Dora Alonso
Poetry and Prose, by Félix Pita Rodríguez
The entire novelistic work of Alejo Carpentier

Other Collections
Noche de sábado, by Abel Prieto
Cambiar las reglas del juego, by Armando Hart
Llover sobre mojado, by Lisandro Otero
Rebelión en la octava casa, by Jaime Sarusky
Un fogonazo and Muecas para escribientes, by Virgilio Piñera
Hombres sin mujer, by Carlos Montenegro
El Monte and Cuentos negros de Cuba, by Lydia Cabrera
Canción de Rachel and Oficio de ángel, by Miguel Barnet
Complete Stories, by Onelio Jorge Cardoso
El año 61, by Dora Alonso
Vida, pasión y suerte and Holocausto, by F. Mond
Misiones, by Reinaldo Montero
Fábula de ángeles, by Francisco López Sacha
El paseante cándido, by Jorge Ángel Pérez
Adiós, muchachos, by Daniel Chavarria
Aire de luz (anthology of Cuban short stories compiled by Alberto Garrandés).