Leonardo de la Caridad Padura Fuentes

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Leonardo Padura was born in La Habana in 1955. Since childhood he read detective novels in his native Mantilla, today he is a recognized writer who possesses a singular conception of the literary fact.

Licensed in philology by the university of this city, he has worked as a screenwriter, journalist and critic. Author of essays, short stories and The Novel of My Life, around the figure of poet José María Heredia, he is known especially for the series of detective novels starring detective Mario Conde, translated into numerous languages and winners of prestigious literary awards, such as the Café Gijón 1995, the Hammett Prize 1997, 1998 and 2005 for best detective novel, the Prize of the Islands 2000, in France, or the Brigade 21 for best novel of the year, in addition to several Critics' Prizes in Cuba and the National Novel Prize 1993. The Mario Conde Series, acclaimed by both readers and the most demanding critics, consists, for now, of six novels: Perfect Past, Lenten Winds, Masks, Autumn Landscape, Goodbye, Hemingway and The Mist of Yesterday. With The Man Who Loved Dogs, a fascinating historical inquiry into the reasons why the great twentieth-century utopia was perverted, Padura has undoubtedly achieved his best novel, the most ambitious and disturbing.

Biography

Padura studied Latin American Literature at the University of La Habana. In 1998, he won the Dashiell Hammett Prize from the International Association of Mystery Writers for his novel Autumn Landscapes.

In 1980, he gained recognition as an investigative journalist in the well-known literary magazine "Caimán Barbudo". He later became known as an essayist and writer of audiovisual scripts and detective novels.

He wrote his first short novel between 1983 and 1984. It was titled Horse Fever and was basically a love story. He spent the following 6 years as a journalist covering cultural and historical events. During this time he began writing his first novel related to Mario Conde and as he did, he realized how much his years as a reporter served him in his work. First, it served as a new experience of the country and, furthermore, it changed his style with respect to his first book.

His well-known character Mario Conde is a police officer who wants to be a writer and admits his solidarity with these characters, the crazy ones and the drunks.

With Sword and Pen is a substantial study on the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The rest of the essay books published by Padura focus on the work of Alejo Carpentier. He has also written a book about detective fiction, Cinderella of the Novel. The Soul in the Terrain collected interviews with some of the greatest figures in baseball. The Longest Journey recreates and revives environments, types, legends, customs that form part of the small history of Cuba, that which runs parallel to and sometimes hidden from national history. The report that gives title to the volume deals with the Chinese presence in Cuba, and from the pages of the book emerge ghosts such as Alberto Yarini, the king of Cuban pimps, and Chano Pozo, the greatest drummer of all time, and also other topics such as the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, patron saint of Cuba, and a history of Cuban rum. Another book, The Faces of Salsa, collects interviews with the best practitioners of that musical genre. In the anthology The Yellow Submarine, Padura offers an interesting and personal vision of the Cuban short story between 1966 and 1991.

He has written scripts for documentary films. For example: I Am From Son to Salsa, which won the Coral Prize at the 18th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of La Habana.

Author of extensive journalistic work, several anthologies and other narrative books such as "Horse Fever" (Letras Cubanas, 1988), which was basically a love story and "As the Years Go By" (Letras Cubanas, 1989), He also worked as a journalist covering cultural and historical events in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde. During this journalistic period, he wrote "With Sword and Pen", a substantial study on the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. The rest of the essay books published by Padura focus on the work of Alejo Carpentier.

The report that gives title to the volume deals with the Chinese presence in Cuba, and from the pages of the book emerge ghosts such as Alberto Yarini, the king of Cuban pimps, and Chano Pozo, the greatest drummer of all time, and also other topics such as the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, patron saint of Cuba, and a history of Cuban rum.

Another book, "The Faces of Salsa", collects interviews with the best practitioners of that musical genre. In the anthology "The Yellow Submarine", Padura offers an interesting and personal vision of the Cuban short story between 1966 and 1991. He is the author of "The Hunter", a book published by the Unión editorial in 1990. He was also editor-in-chief of the Gaceta de Cuba until the end of 1995.

Author of the successful tetralogy "The Four Seasons", made up of the novels "Perfect Past" (1991), "Lenten Winds" (1994), "Masks" (1997), and "Autumn Landscape" (1998), with which he introduces to literary life the peculiar character of Lieutenant Mario Conde.

He also wrote a book about detective fiction, "Cinderella of the Novel", "The Soul in the Terrain" which collected interviews with some of the greatest figures in baseball. "The Longest Journey" which recreates and revives environments, types, legends, customs that form part of the small history of Cuba, that which runs parallel to and sometimes hidden from national history.

In 2001 he published the literary work "Goodbye, Hemingway", and in 2002 the Tusquets publishing house published his work "The Novel of My Life". Later in 2005 "The Mist of Yesterday" was launched.

He has written scripts for documentary films. For example: "I Am From Son to Salsa", which won the Coral Prize at the 18th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of La Habana.

In 2009 the Tusquets publishing house published his novel "The Man Who Loved Dogs", "complex novel, which involves as main characters León Trotsky and his assassin Ramón Mercader. It is fundamentally a historical novel, because it is based on two important figures of the twentieth century."

Tetralogy "Four Seasons"

The novel Autumn Landscapes is part of the tetralogy "Four Seasons". The main protagonist of it is detective Mario Conde (El Conde). These books are set respectively in the different seasons of the year. Padura has also published two books in which he presents Conde: "Goodbye Hemingway" and "The Mist of Yesterday".

The books that make it up are:

* Perfect Past (1991).
* Lenten Winds (1994).
* Masks (1997).
* Autumn Landscape (1998).

Other Works

* Horse Fever (1983/1984).
* With Sword and Pen (essay) (1984).
* Columbus, Carpentier, the Hand, the Harp and the Shadow (essay) (1987).
* As the Years Go By (short story) (1989).
* The Real Marvelous, Creation and Reality (essay) (1989).
* The Soul in the Terrain –in collaboration with Raúl Arce– (report) (1989).
* The Longest Journey (report) (1994).
* Alejo Carpentier and the Narrative of the Real Marvelous (essay) (1995).
* The Gate of Alcalá and Other Hunts (short story) (1997).
* The Faces of Salsa (interview) (1997).
* Goodbye Hemingway (2001).
* The Serpent's Tail (2001).
* The Mist of Yesterday (2002/2003).
* The Novel of My Life (2005).
* The Man Who Loved Dogs (2009).

Awards

* Café Gijón Prize 1995
* 1998: Dashiell Hammett Prize from the International Association of Mystery Writers for his novel Autumn Landscapes, 1998.
* Prize from the Union of Writers for Lenten Winds.
* Prize from the Spanish publishing house Tusquets for Masks.
* National literature prize 2012