Luis Lorente

Cuban poet and writer. Literary specialist. Advisor to the Association of Writers, within the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). A large part of his poetry is included in anthologies published in Cuba and abroad.

A native of Cárdenas in the province of Matanzas, he studied at the National School of Art Instructors. He was linked to the literary workshop of his native city and published his first poems in literary bulletins from his province.

Since 1970 he has worked in the Provincial Culture Office as a Literary Advisor. He has belonged since 1986 to the editorial board of the cultural supplement Yumurí, from the newspaper Girón. He has been a judge for the David competition and other provincial competitions such as the José Jacinto Milanés.

He has collaborated in publications such as Casa de las Américas, El Caimán Barbudo, Letras Cubanas, La Gaceta de Cuba, Unión and Revolución y Cultura, as well as in foreign publications Literary Romania and Tomy (both Romanian), Areíto (United States) and in other Soviet and Spanish journals.

He visited the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, German Democratic Republic and Romania. He attended the First Hispano-American Meeting of Young Writers held in Madrid in 1985.

As a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, he participated in the II and IV Congresses of this organization. He serves as Vice President of the Association of writers of Matanzas.

Lorente regularly participates in the Poetry Festival celebrated each year in Medellín Colombia, by the Corporation of Art and Poetry Prometeo

Publications

Las puertas y los pasos (1975)
Café nocturno (1984)
Ella canta en La Habana (1985)
Como la noche incierta, in collaboration with Aramís Quintero
Aquí fue siempre ayer (1997)
Más horribles que yo (2006)
Fábula lluvia, poetry anthology (2008)
El cielo de tu boca (2011)

His texts have been included in important Cuban and foreign anthologies, Poesía joven de Cuba (1976), Cuba: en su lugar la poesía (Mexico, 1982), Poesía cubana de amor (1983), Nueva poesía cubana (Spain, 1985), Usted es la culpable (1985), Antología de la poesía cubana (Venezuela, 1986). Some of his poems have also been translated into Russian and Greek.

Awards and Recognition

His work has earned several national awards such as the David Prize for Poetry, UNEAC, (1975) and the prize from the literary magazine El Caimán Barbudo.

In 2004 he obtained the Casa de las Américas Prize for Poetry with Esta tarde llegando la noche and in 2006 he obtained the Critics' Prize with his book Más horribles que yo.

In 2020 he received the Poetry Prize "La Gaceta de Cuba", in its XXV call, with the work Oda para la brevedad del año dieciocho.

In 2022 he again obtained the Casa de las Américas Prize 2022 in poetry for Excepcional belleza del verano.