Doralina de la Caridad Alonso Pérez

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Notable children's literature writer for whom she obtained the Casa de las Américas Award in Children's Literature, in 1988 she receives the National Prize for Literature.

She joined revolutionary struggles from a very young age and was a collaborator for different newspapers and magazines, among which are Prensa Libre, Ellas, Vanidades, Carteles, Pionero, Bohemia and Casa de las Américas. She was a war correspondent at Playa Girón. She obtained in 1980 the Casa de las Américas Award in Children's Literature and in 1988 she won the National Prize for Literature.

She was also a radio and television scriptwriter, narrator, playwright and journalist. Dora Alonso is the most translated and published Cuban author for children abroad. Her narrative literary style is based on simplicity and the handling of emotions.

She always highlights in her texts the Cuban peasant, recreating his human values and love for nature. In the nineteen fifties she wrote theatrical pieces for the Cuban puppet Pelusín del Monte, which maintained a space on Cuban television. One of her most famous novels was Tierra Inerme, awarded First Prize in the II Hispano-American Literary Contest of Casa de Las Américas. Furthermore, her novels Tierra Brava and Sol de Batey were brought to television.

She was born in Recreo (called Máximo Gómez from 1924), a municipal term of Martí, province of Matanzas. Daughter of Adela Pérez de Corcho Rodríguez, a housewife, of peasant origin (born in Guamutas on July 31, 1880), and David Alonso Fernández, a livestock breeder and seller, of comfortable economic position (born in the village of La Rubiera, Asturias, on December 21, 1859), they gave her the name Doralina de la Caridad.

1919. Evidence of her early vocation is the first prize in the provincial literary contest "Estela Brochs de la Torriente".

1926. Her first poem "Amor" appears in the pages of the newspaper El Mundo.

1933. Correspondent for the newspaper Prensa Libre, of Cárdenas, in Máximo Gómez, a town in Matanzas.

1934. She joins the anti-imperialist organization Joven Cuba. In it she meets the tobacco worker Constantino Barredo Guerra, her partner in life and in revolutionary struggles until 1938.
She writes her first radio novel scripts: Mensajeras and La sombra lúcida, the latter, the seed of Entre monte y cielo.

1936. "Humildad", one of her first short stories with social themes, wins first prize in the literary contest of Bohemia magazine.

1940. She puts the finishing touches to her first book of poetry for children, Coral, which would remain unpublished until 1983.

1942. She writes for Lux magazine, of the Trade Union Federation of Electric Plants, Gas and Water. Her first interviews appear in it: with the Chinese ambassador to Cuba, Ti Tsun Li, and with Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, during his visit to Havana. She receives the Poetry Prize in the contest held by "Alianza Cubana" for a Free World.

1944. Tierra adentro receives the National Novel Prize of the Ministry of Education.

1945. Tierra adentro begins to air on RHC Cadena Azul, but it is interrupted after twenty chapters on air due to disagreements between the author and the managers of the sponsoring company Gravi, who express their disagreement with the novel's social content.

1947. Tierra adentro is back on air, but on CMQ Radio and under the title of Por los verdes caminos. From this year until 1956, she would write for the soap company Crusellas and for Radio Progreso.
With "Negativo" she wins first prize in the "Hernández Catá" contest.

1949. Premiere of Entre monte y cielo by La Novela Radial de Candado, from CMQ station. First trip abroad: Miami.

1950. Her radio novel Sol de batey airs for the first time. Entre monte y cielo reaches 32.6% popularity in Puerto Rico, in the space La Novela Palmolive. She visits Viñales, Pinar del Río, for the first time.

1952. Tierra nueva airs. She makes her debut as a television screenwriter in the program "Deténgase" of CMQ. The broadcast of her Sangre humilde begins by La Novela Radial de Candado.

1953. She decides to raise as a legitimate son an orphan boy, José Joaquín Alfonso Malagón; a seven-year-old mulatto boy from the town of Herradura, in Pinar del Río, where his father and grandfather were from.

1954. She travels to Mexico and spends three months traveling through the cities of Acapulco, Tasco, Cuernavaca and Mexico, D.F.

1955. She meets Fausto Rodríguez Sánchez (Cárdenas, Matanzas, 1928), an activist of the Popular Socialist Party (communist since age sixteen), who is her partner in life from 1956 onwards.
She writes her first play for adults: La hora de estar ciegos, where she critically addresses racial conflicts in Cuba.

1956. With Pelusín y los pájaros she begins her theatrical production for children.

1957. Other novels of hers such as Sierra brava, Río abajo, Tierra nueva, Por los verdes caminos [Tierra adentro], Flor de aguinaldo and Rancho Luna, are broadcast in Puerto Rico, Panama, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and in other countries.

1960. First staging of La hora de estar ciegos by the Teatro Estudio group directed by Roberto Blanco, at the Municipal Palace of Marianao.

1961. She contributes to the preparation of the first textbooks for primary education in Cuba. She begins to publish in Bohemia the section Páginas Nuevas, intended to promote and guide the literary and artistic expression of Cuban children and adolescents.
Her novel Tierra inerme is worthy of the highest award in the II Hispano-American Literary Contest of Casa de las Américas.
She is intimidated by the self-styled Movimiento Revolucionario del Pueblo, a few days before the armed invasion at Playa Girón, which she reports as a war correspondent for Bohemia, between the 15th and 19th of the same month.

1962. As a war correspondent for Bohemia and accompanied by commander Vitalio (Vilo) Acuña, she heads to the Havana town of Minas when the American blockade of Cuba is decreed and the so-called October Crisis begins. Her book of short stories Ponolani receives first mention in the Casa de las Américas contest.

1964. The publication of her juvenile novella Aventuras de Guille en busca de la gaviota negra begins in the children's supplement of the newspaper Revolución and under the pseudonym of D. Polimita.

1966. Three of her texts for children, musicalized -"Cuento del conejo" (creole), "Niño pionero" (country), and "Niñito cubano" (Havana style)-, are selected among the ten best Cuban songs for children ages 7 to 13.

1970. She writes Once caballos.

1971. Her work Cómo el trompo aprendió a bailar wins first prize at the I Children's Theater Festival of Vallenar, in Chile.

1973. Aventuras de Guille is the most requested book among young Cuban readers, according to a survey in the country's public libraries.

1974. She presents the first installments of her children's novella El cochero azul, in a free version for the space Aventuras de Rapilito, of Radio Progreso.

1975. Her work Espantajo y los pájaros deserves the Prize of the Municipality of Leipzig, German Democratic Republic for its staging with German actors and under the direction of Eddy Socorro. She receives the National Order "Raúl Gómez García".

1979. Inspired by a story of hers that describes the fate of a young Black woman kidnapped in Africa and brought to Cuba to be sold in a slave market, in Guantánamo, Danza Nacional de Cuba brings to the stage of Teatro Mella her work Ponolani, choreography, script and scenography by Víctor Cuéllar, music by Miguel Cobas and costumes by Gabriel Hierrezuelo. Sol de batey is selected as the best novel and best original of the year.

1980. Her short story "El valle de la Pájara Pinta" wins the Casa de las Américas Prize. The jury was made up of Alfonso Chase (Costa Rica), Armando José Sequera (Venezuela) and Cubans Ana María Salas and Omar González.

1981. She receives the commemorative medal for the 20th anniversary of Playa Girón. She receives the Distinction for National Culture.

1982. She receives the "Alejo Carpentier" Medal in a ceremony presided over by Fidel Castro.

1983. The National Puppet Theater premieres her work Mandamás, with music by Héctor Angulo, choreography by Alberto Méndez, designs (scenography, costumes and puppets) by Armando Morales, and artistic direction by Hedí Socorro.

1984. Cuban composer Juan Piñera obtains the prize in song for children to be heard in the XIII La Edad de Oro Contest, for his musicalization of "En la casa que recuerdo", from La flauta de chocolate. She appears among the most popular Cuban writers of 1983, according to a survey by Opina magazine, reaching 9 thousand 780 votes.

1985. El valle de la Pájara Pinta is awarded on three occasions: Diploma of the International Prize Máximo Gorki, the prize for children's and youth literature most relevant of the national sections of socialist countries of the International Organization for Children's Books (IBBY); the Prize La Rosa Blanca, of UNEAC; and the Prize of the Critics -corresponding to 1984- of the Cuban Institute of Books.

1986. Premiere of her work El teatro de Pelusín by the National Puppet Theater, with music by Juan Marcos Blanco, designs by Jesús Ruiz, choreography by Zoa Fernández and direction by Roberto Fernández.

1987. Her poetry collection Los payasos is included in the basic list of the Book Bank of Venezuela. She receives a replica of General Máximo Gómez's machete for having contributed with her work to raising the patriotic and internationalist consciousness of our people. She is awarded the Prize "El Diablo Cojuelo" by the Union of Young Communists of Cuba.

1988. She writes Carta autobiográfica al Patito Feo. She is declared Distinguished Daughter on the Day of the Absent Matancero of the XIII Week of Culture of the municipality of Matanzas. She receives the Order "Félix Varela" of First Degree, the highest cultural distinction granted by the State Council of the Republic of Cuba. She is granted the category of Emeritus Member of UNEAC. She receives the National Prize for Literature for her body of work.

1989. She receives the Distinction of August 23 of the Federation of Cuban Women.

1990. Presentation of Juega la dama. She is awarded the National Order Ana Betancourt. She starts a Sunday space for comments, not only literary, on Radio Taíno. She titles it "Habladurías". The following month she begins a similar one, but of anecdotes "De memoria", on Radio Progreso. She receives the Distinction for Cuban Education.

1991. The album El cochero azul, by the theatrical group Anaquillé, is presented. She receives the Prize "Los Zapaticos de Rosa".

1992. Teatro para niños is proclaimed among the ten winning titles of the Prize of the Critics.

1993. Her selection of Teatro para niños is presented.

1994. She receives the Distinction Jovellanos corresponding to 1993, the highest award of the Federation of Asturian Societies of Cuba. Her new poetry collection for adults Escrito en el verano is published. For "Tres lechuzas en un cuento" she receives the Prize La Rosa Blanca, of UNEAC. Her short story "La rata" is published in a textbook for Swedish pre-university students, in Stockholm.

1995. Her novel Donde anidan las gaviotas airs on Radio Progreso, with advice from Carmen Puga and direction by Caridad Martínez.

1997. Her radio novel Medialuna, under the title of Tierra brava and with script and general direction by Xiomara Blanco reaches great audience now on television. She obtains the World Prize for Literature "José Martí" awarded in Costa Rica for her body of work.
She publishes Tiempo ido, journalistic chronicles, by the new collection Cemí, of Editorial Letras Cubanas.

1999. Juan Ligero y el gallo encantado is published by Gente Nueva.