Luis Francisco Beiro Álvarez

He graduated as a Bachelor of Laws from the Universidad de La Habana (1975). He was chosen as the most outstanding graduate of his class. During his university studies, he held the position of Secretary of Culture of the Faculty of Law. The following year he joined the brigade of young writers and artists "Hermanos Saíz" and participated in countless cultural activities throughout the island, obtaining several awards and mentions in poetry in various Cuban literary contests such as the "David," "13 de Marzo," "Julián del Casal," "26 de julio," and "Enrique Hart" prizes, among others.

In 1975 he began working as Legal Advisor to the Prices Group of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. In 1976 he joined as head of the Legal Department of the State Committee on Prices and in 1977 moved to the Provincial Directorate of Culture of Ciudad de La Habana in the same position. There he also worked as editor of the poetry collection "Ediciones Extramuros."

In 1979 he joined the Film Exhibition Company of Ciudad de La Habana and worked as Legal Advisor and writer for the Cineguía magazine. In 1980 he moved to work at the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) as a Specialist in Publications and International Events, and where, furthermore, he directed between 1987 and 1990 the "Plan for Cultural Revitalization of Mountainous Zones" also called the "Plan Turquino."

At UNEAC he was a writer for "La Gaceta de Cuba" and "La Nueva Gaceta." In 1983 his membership in the Literature Section of that entity was approved. He was a jury member for several national literary contests.

In 1990 he resigned from his job and began working at Radio Habana Cuba until his final departure from Cuba in mid-1992. In 1984 he was admitted as a member of the Union of Journalists of Cuba by proficiency examination.

International Travel: In 1985 he visited the Bulgarian cities of Sofia and Plovdiv for 15 days as part of a cultural exchange. Since 1989 he has visited the Dominican Republic invited by Radio Santa María and the Technological University of Cibao to provide consultations and courses on the Décima Popular.

In 1992 he settled permanently in the Dominican Republic. In February 2007 he traveled to Miami for two days to present an anthology of stories by Dominican diaspora authors, as part of Hispanic Cultural Heritage Week in that city.

Work in Santo Domingo: He has worked as publications manager at Editorial Argumentos (1992-1993) and as press officer for the National Baseball Academy "Campo Las Palmas" (1993-1996).

He was part of the team that founded the first Dominican digital newspaper, the "Diario Electrónico Dominicano" (DEDOM) in which he worked between 1994 and 1995.

In 1996 he joined the team that founded the now-defunct afternoon newspaper La Nación, in which he founded and directed the cultural supplements "Tertulia" and "Lectura de Domingo," until its closure in August 2000. During that time he was part of the team that brought and established in Santo Domingo in coordination with the Spanish newspaper El País the book collection "Joyas del Milenio." In his case, he was responsible for approving the 21 works that would circulate in the country and for writing evaluative reports about them in the pages of the now-defunct newspaper "El Siglo."

In 2000 he moved to work as Culture Editor of the newspaper Listín Diario, a position he currently holds. Furthermore, he was first sub-editor and later Editor of Supplements of the aforementioned newspaper. Since 2006, he is also coordinator of the "Journalists for a Year" internship program of Listín Diario which brings together the best students from various Dominican universities to practice the profession within the morning newspaper.

Between 2002 and 2007 he was Editor of the Dominican literary magazine "Mythos" with national circulation but prepared in the city of Santiago de Los Caballeros. Since 1999 he has been a permanent contributor to the literary magazine "Sieteculebras" directed from the city of Cusco by Peruvian writer Mario Guevara Paredes. He worked as an Advisor to the now-defunct International Film Festival of Santo Domingo. He was part of the jury for the León Jimenes Prize (2001) of the International Book Fair, an event where he has participated in several international colloquia and conferences. Since 2005 he has been a jury member of the "Radio Santa María" short story contest, considered the most important one held in the country from a national perspective. Between 2002 and 2006 he was a jury member for the UCE literature prize in the genres of Poetry, Short Story, and Novel.

He also works as a style editor for the Santillana Group, an institution that has also invited him to present books by Eliseo Alberto, Sergio Ramírez, Manuel Vicent, and Luis Leante, among others, in the country on the occasion of their visits.

Awards Obtained:
Journalism:
As a journalist he has been distinguished with the "Premio Caonabo de Oro" awarded by the Dominican Association of Writers and Journalists to the best foreign journalist in the Dominican Republic (2000), and with Certificates of recognition for his work by the State Secretariat of Culture (2002) and the Spanish Cultural Center (2007), among others.

In Literature
-He was a finalist for the Poetry Prize of the Mexican magazine "Plural" (1985).
-National Prize for History "Primero de Enero" in Cuba for his book "Brisa Nueva: Selection of the Work of the Hermanos Saíz" (1984, written in collaboration).

Published Books
In Cuba:
In the Lines of Triumph (Poetry, 1975); "The Voice in Combat" (poetic anthology of the Hermanos Saíz with selection and prologue); "On this Meridian" (Poetry, 1977); "Journey" (Poetry, 1979); Letters to Roxana (poetry pamphlet, 1981); "Luis and Sergio: the Hermanos Saíz" (Biography, 1983); "New Breeze, selection of the work of the Hermanos Saíz" (1984); "The World Around Us" (Poetry, 1983); "The Glory of the World" (poetry, 1985); "The Truth in Your Hands" (pamphlet, 1989 and 1990). Panorama of the Décima in Cuba (notebook, 1990) and "Soldier of Time" (Poetry, 1991).

Published Books
In the Dominican Republic
"Panorama of the Décima" (1990); "Dulce María Loynaz: the First Woman of America" (poetic anthology, 1992); "The Décimas of Huchi Lora" (1992, selection and prologue); Book of Luis Ernesto (poetry, 1994); The Décimas of Radio Santa María (selection and prologue, 1994); "The Written Décima in the Dominican Republic" (critical anthology, 1995, written in collaboration); The Bait on the Hook (novel, 1998 and 2002); "Pedro Mir in Family" (interviews, 2001); "From the Last Seat" (film criticism, 2003); "Crazy in Blue" (poetry, 2003); Cola de León I (vignettes, 2003); "Cola de León II" (vignettes, 2007); "The Criterion Exercised" (criticism and literary fictions about the selected works in the Joyas del Milenio collection, 2007); "Prize-Winning Décimas" (selection and prologue, 2008); "Luyanó" (novel, 2009); "With Eyes of a Phantom" (poetry, 2010); "Havana Stories" (2011); "Jewels of Korean Cinema" (Film Chronicles, 2012); "Taiwan: Twelve Directors Toward Excellence" (Film Chronicles, 2013); and "Miranda's Chosen Ones" (novel, 2013)

Places where he has worked:
In Cuba: State Committee on Prices, Provincial Directorate of Culture of Ciudad Habana, Provincial Film Exhibition Company of Ciudad Habana, Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, Radio Habana Cuba.
In the Dominican Republic: Editorial "Argumentos," Huchi Lora Office, National Baseball Academy "Campo Las Palmas," newspaper "La Nación," newspaper "Listín Diario," Santillana Group.

Source: Luis Beiro Blog