Antonio Rodríguez Salvador

Cuban poet, narrator, playwright and essayist. Taguasco, Sancti Spíritus. He graduated in 1983 as an Economist from the Universidad Marta Abreu de Villa Clara, adjunct professor of Writing and Style at the Universidad José Martí, and of Dramaturgy at the Universidad Pedagógica Silverio Blanco, in Sancti Spíritus. He is considered one of the outstanding voices of current Latin American narrative.

From 1999 to 2002 he was director of Editorial Luminaria. Author, among others, of the texts Oficio de caminante (poetry), Editorial Capitán San Luis, La Habana, 1991; Hágase un Solitario (short story), Premio Fundación de la Ciudad de Santa Clara. Editorial Capiro, Santa Clara, 1996; Pato de bodas (children's theater), Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2005; La fiera disecada (essay), Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2010.

His father, Joaquín Antonio Rodríguez Castro, was also a writer, and his work, which merited critical recognition, was compiled in the book of poems Flor de campanillas, published in 1950, and in various anthologies, including that of 200 years of the sonnet in Cuba.

He completed his secondary and pre-university studies in a military school, and in 1983 he graduated with a degree in Economics from the Universidad Central de Las Villas. He excelled in sports: he was a national university chess champion in 1979, and obtained the best result for a first board in the national championship of postal chess first category in 1985.

From 1987 to 1995, he was economic director of Cuba's most important paper mill complex, and in 1990 he carried out commercial tasks in the Soviet Union.

From 1995 to 1997 he held important positions at the first level of management of the Paper Union in Cuba, until in that latter year his novel "Rolandos" was awarded in two competitions held in Spain and he then decided to abandon his economics career and dedicate himself entirely to literature.

He has been a member of the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba since 1993. From 1999 to 2002 he was director of Editorial Luminaria. In 2000 he was distinguished with the status of Personalidad de la Cultura, and in 2005 he was recognized as Miembro Ilustre of the Asociación Hermanos Saiz, an organization that brings together young writers and artists in Cuba. In 1997 he received the shield of the city of Rojales, Alicante, Spain.

Several of his works have been the subject of study at important universities in Spain, France, the United States, Canada, Germany, and Cuba, among others.

He currently resides in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.

Owner of a linguistic clarity that summarizes in the realm of prose his poetic achievements and a mythical breath when venturing (evaluatively, incisively) into reality, his narrative proposes interesting variants within the fabulatory tendency, mature in that they signify the consolidation of a well-personalized "modus operandi" around certain thematic areas addressed by other creators of this tendency. The absurd is seen as just another detail of the "real" life that unfolds within the work, in close interdependence with a philosophical-burlesque way of assuming that life; it does not appear as a datum of astonishment or stupefaction or fear (a fairly common characteristic in other cultivators of this modality) but as part of that whole which is narrated on equal terms.

Work
He has published the following books:

Oficio de caminante (poetry) Editorial Capitán San Luis, La Habana, 1991.
Quiero que me dasanudes (poetry) Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 1992
En un sombrero de mago (poetry) Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 1993.
Hágase un solitario (short story) Premio Fundación de la Ciudad de Santa Clara. Editorial Capiro, Santa Clara, 1996
Rolandos (novel) (International Novel Prize "Salvador García Aguilar", Rojales, Alicante, Spain. Olalla Ediciones, Madrid, 1997; Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 1998; Editorial Caminho, Lisboa, 2000. Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, 2014.
Sueño a cuatro manos (novel) Editorial Globo, Tenerife, 2002.
Espejo del solitario (poetry) Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2002.
Pato de bodas (children's theater) Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2005.
La fiera disecada (essay) Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2010
La condición del espejo (novel) Editorial Guantanamera, Lantia Publishing, SL.Sevilla, Spain, 2017.
His works appear in numerous anthologies published in various countries. The most representative are:
Líneas aéreas Latin American Narrators. Editorial Lengua de Trapo, Madrid, 1999.
De Cuba te cuento Cuban Narrators. Editorial Plaza Mayor, Puerto Rico, 2002.
Esta cárcel de aire puro. Panorama of the Cuban décima 20th century. Casa Editora Abril. La Habana, 2010

Other anthologies are:
Mis barcos nuevamente (narrative) Various Espirituanan Writers. Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 1994.
Anuario de Poesía (poetry) Editorial Unión, La Habana, 1994.
Toda luz y toda mía (poetry) Espirituanan décimists. Editorial Luminaria. Sancti Spíritus, 1995.
Poetas del mediodía (poetry) Cuban décimists. Editorial Sanlope, Las Tunas, 1995.
Líneas aéreas (short story) Latin American Narrators. Editorial Lengua de Trapo, Madrid, 1999.
Poetas de nuestras tierras (poetry) Cuban and Canarian décimists. Editorial Centro de la Cultura Popular Canaria, Tenerife, 2000.
Todo el amor en décimas (poetry) Espirituanan décimists. Editorial Benchomo, Tenerife, 2001.
Que caí bajo la noche (poetry) 200 years of erotic décima in Cuba. Editorial Ávila, Ciego de Ávila, 2004.
Una mirada (poetry) Contemporary Cuban Poets. Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, 2005
Abrir ciertas ventanas (short story) Espirituanan narrators. Editorial Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2006.
La irreverencia, y otros minicuentos (short stories) Cuban Narrators. Editorial Caja China and Editorial Luminaria, La Habana and Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, 2006.
Por los extraños pueblos (chronicle) Chronicles of Cuban towns. Editorial Unión, La Habana, 2009.
He visto pasar los trenes (short story) Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana, 2012
Para llegar hasta ti. Cuban Love Décimas. Casa Editora Abril. La Habana 2015.
Toda luz. Anthology of the Espirituanan décima. Ediciones Luminaria, Sancti Spíritus, 2016
Decimerón. Anthology of the Cuban erotic-humorous décima, Editorial Capiro, Santa Clara, 2017

His chronicles, articles and essays, some of them awarded in important competitions, are published regularly in his Author's Column Fe de erratas of CubaLiteraria, the Portal of Cuban Literature. Some of them have also been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Croatian and Greek.