Francisco Sellén

Francisco Sellén, who would become known as a translator of German and English poets.

He began his studies in Spain, where he traveled as a child, and continued them at the Santo Ángel school upon his return to Cuba.

He collaborated in Floresta Cubana, El Correo Habanero, El Tiempo Álbum cubano de lo bueno y lo bello, Bolsa, La Aurora, Cuba Literaria, Revista Habanera, Prensa, El Siglo, La Opinión, Revista del Pueblo, El Kaleidoscopio. He founded, together with his brother Antonio, the Heraldo Cubano, a bilingual Spanish-English newspaper.

In the late sixties he became connected with Rafael María de Mendive, Suárez y Romero, Armas y Céspedes, Zambrana, and was part of the Reformist Party. He conspired when the 1868 war began.

Because an arms depot was found in his possession, he was deported to Spain. From there he fled in 1869 to go to New York and enlist in the expedition "Los cazadores de Hatuey," in which he held the rank of captain.

When this attempt failed, he returned to New York, where, like his brother, he worked in journalism and teaching.

He collaborated in Correo de la Tarde, La Familia, Aurora del Yumurí, Revista Cubana, from Cuba; El Mensajero de las Familias, Ateneo, Revista Contemporánea, from Spain; Ilustración Americana, Mundo Nuevo, Museo de las Familias, El Educador Popular and La América Ilustrada, from the United States. He appeared in the poetic collection Arpas amigas. In 1882 he returned to La Habana, but soon returned to New York. There he helped José Martí in the founding of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and worked for an insurance company.

He collaborated during that time in El País, Cuba y América and El Fígaro. In 1904 he settled in Cuba, where he was head of the statistics section of the Treasury Department. He published in collaboration Estudios poéticos, traducciones e imitaciones en verso. He translated, among other works, Intermezzo lírico, by Heine; Ecos del Rhin, a collection of German poems translated into verse; Yelba, a comedy by Scribe; Bertram, a tragedy by Mathurin, dramas by Zacarías Werner and F. Halm; novels by Wilkie Collins, Robert L. Stevenson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and F. Barret. Several of his translations appear in his brother Antonio's book, Ecos del Sena.

Before his death, he donated his library to the National Library of Cuba. He used the pseudonym Almaviva.

His varied and abundant work is recognized for its grammatical perfection and good taste.

Francisco Sellén appears in the poetic collection "Arpas Amigas," and is the author of the dramatic poem "Hatuey," a work of notable value in the history of Cuban literature.

After the independence uprising of 1868, he suffered imprisonment and was deported to Spain, from where he managed to emigrate to the United States.

Subsequently he joined an ill-fated expedition to the Island, headed by the patriot Domingo Goicuría.

Sellén collaborated with José Martí in the founding of the Cuban Revolutionary Party and, together with Antonio Maceo, rejected the Pact of Zanjón, which meant for Cuba a peace without independence.