Karla Suárez

Writer, narrator, electronic engineer. Cortázar Prize in 2019.

As a girl she had three passions: mathematics, writing stories and music. Thus, she began studying classical guitar at the Alejandro García Caturla conservatory where she graduated from elementary music level in 1984. That same year, considering it was too early to determine what to do with her future life, she decided to leave the conservatory.

In 1987 she enrolled at the Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (ISPJAE) to study Computer Engineering. During her studies, she attended the university's literary workshop and began participating in literary encounters with young authors. Furthermore, since she found it difficult to distance herself completely from music, she began singing with several troubadours.

In 1992 she graduated from engineering. Her thesis, developed at the National Laboratory of Electroacoustic Music, was the creation of musical application software. From that moment on she began working as an engineer.

In 1994 she published a short story for the first time, Aniversario, in the Revista Revolución y Cultura in Havana. Two years later this story was adapted for theater by Cecilio S. Valdés and premiered at the Centro Dramático de Cienfuegos. During those years she published short stories in magazines and anthologies and in 1998, the Fundación Alejo Carpentier de La Habana awarded her the Razón de Ser creation grant for a novel project.

In 1998, she moved to Rome, where she continued writing, in addition to practicing the profession of engineer and computer science teacher.

In 1999 her personal books began to appear. In Cuba her first collection of short stories, Espuma, was published. The stories El ojo de la noche and En esta casa hay un fantasma, belonging to this book, were adapted for Cuban Television in 2002, the first directed by Carlos Medina and the second by Rosaida Irízar and Susana Pérez.

That same year she won the Lengua de Trapo Prize in Spain for her first novel, Silencios, with which she was selected by the newspaper El Mundo among the 10 debut novelists of 2000. Furthermore, the French translation of Silencios was a finalist for the Amedée Huyghues Despointes Insular Americas and Guyana Prize, awarded in Guadeloupe in 2004. A few years later, in France, this novel gave rise to two theatrical pieces: a staging by the theater company ''Peu importe'' and a musical theater performance by Ecume, the University Choir of Montpellier.

They say all roads lead to Rome, but they also take you away from it, so in 2003 she moved her residence to Paris where she continued practicing her profession as an engineer, as a computer science teacher, computer technician, database developer and Web designer.

During those years she obtained several literary creation grants in France, among them those awarded by the Centre National du Livre de Paris (CNL).

As a result of her collaboration with Italian photographer Francesco Gattoni are the books Cuba, les chemins du hasard and Rome, par-delà les chemins published in France, which contain a series of autobiographical texts. With Luxembourg photographer Yvon Lambert, Suárez published in Belgium Grietas en las paredes in Spanish and French versions, a book that has the city of Havana as its setting.

In 2007 Karla Suárez was selected by the Hay Festival and Bogotá Capital Mundial del Libro among the 39 most representative writers of Latin America under 40 years old.

After living a few years in Paris, in 2010 she moved her residence again, this time to Lisbon, where she currently resides.

Many of her short stories have appeared in anthologies and magazines published in England, the United States, Finland, Iceland, Poland, France, Italy, Spain, Cuba and various countries in Latin America. The short story La coleccionista, belonging to the book Carroza para actores, was adapted for Cuban Television in 2016, under the direction of Carmelo Rubio.

Her novels have been translated into several languages. In 2012, her novel Habana, año cero won in France the prizes: Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-monde Prize and the Grand Prize for Insular Literature.

Suárez has taught writing workshops in several countries. She has been invited to deliver lectures and participate in literary festivals in Europe and Latin America. She has been a judge for the Juan Rulfo Prize and a contributor to the newspaper El País in Spain and El informador de México.

Currently she no longer works in engineering. She coordinates the Reading Club at the Instituto Cervantes de Lisboa and works as a writing teacher at the Escuela de Escritores de Madrid.

PUBLISHED BOOKS
2017: El hijo del héroe (novel).
2014: Rome, par-delà les chemins (Photos: Francesco Gattoni) (travel book).
2011: Habana año cero (novel).
2007: Cuba les chemins du hasard (Photos: Francesco Gattoni) (travel book).
2007: Grietas en las paredes (Photos: Yvon Lambert) (short stories).
2005: La viajera (novel).
2001: Carroza para actores (short stories).
1999: Silencios (novel).
1999: Espuma (short stories).


LITERARY PRIZES, GRANTS AND CREATIVE RESIDENCIES
2017. Literary residency aboard the Péniche du Livre in Béthune, France.
2015. Writing residency at Villa Marguerite Yourcenar in France.
2012. Carbet du Caraïbe et du Tout-monde Prize, France (novel: Habana, año cero).
2012. Grand Prize for Insular Literature France (novel: Habana, año cero).
2012. Writing residency in Vincennes (Festival América Association and the City of Vincennes), France.
2008. Creation grant from the National Center for Books of France.
2007. Selected by the Hay Festival and Bogotá capital mundial del libro, among the 39 most representative young writers of Latin America.
2007. Writing residency in Douro, Portugal.
2006. Writing residency of the Clermont-Ferrand Community, France.
2005. Writing residency of ARPEL Aquitaine in Bordeaux, France.
2004. Finalist for the Insular Americas and Guyana Prize "Amedée Huyghues Despointes", Guadeloupe (novel: Silencios).
2004. Creation grant from the National Center for Books of France.
2004. Writing residency of the Maison des Écrivains Étranger et des Traducteurs de Saint-Nazaire, France.
2003. Short story prize in the 3rd International Competition "I colori delle Donne", Ascoli Piceno, Italy.
1999. Lengua de Trapo Editorial Prize, Spain (novel: Silencios).
1998. Creation grant from the Fundación Alejo Carpentier de Cuba.