Manuel Cofiño López

Cuban narrator, poet, and literary researcher. A writer for the masses, one of the principal exponents of the so-called "socialist realism" on the Island. Writer of short stories, novels, and novelettes that narrate times of change, social transformations, and family and social upheavals in revolutionary Cuba.

Over time, Cofiño became one of the most widely read Cuban writers and was translated into other languages. Many of his stories have the name of a woman as their title, and several of his novels are directly related to themes associated with women. Precisely Manuel Cofiño won in 1971 the Casa de las Américas Prize with his novel titled "La última mujer y el próximo combate" which has been translated into more than 25 languages.

On one occasion, Cofiño, in reference to the motivations he felt as a writer, asserted that literature must be in the service of man, of his aspirations, his dreams, and struggles. Manuel Cofiño was also a leader of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. He was vice president of the Literature Section of that organization. For his meritorious work, he was awarded several decorations by the Cuban state and other countries, including the Distinction for National Culture and the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Simón Bolívar University of Colombia.

He was born in Havana. His father was Asturian and his mother was Cuban. Due to the separation of his parents, he went to live with his maternal grandparents. He studied primary school and then entered the Hermanos Maristas School in La Víbora. From high school came his first readings: Verne, Salgari, and Andersen. Later the German philosophers, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Fichte. In 1955 he completed high school.

He meets Boris Luis Santa Coloma, assailant of the Moncada Barracks, and René Orestes Reiné García, an expeditionary of the Granma. He reads the first Marxist books: Anti-Dühring and the Manifesto of the Communist Party. He supports the insurrectional process.

In 1956, Cofiño began studying Philosophy and Letters at the University of Havana, but it was soon closed and he could not continue. Already in 1960 he began studying Advertising Sciences at the University of Havana, but could not finish due to the cancellation of the program.

His first job was at the H. Upmann cigar factory, following the tradition of his maternal grandfather. There he met friends who later would serve him as characters for his third novel, Amor a sombra y sol.

In 1962, he began working at the Ministry of Industries, where he met Che. He settled in the Office for Product Research, a kind of advertising and propaganda agency. From 1962 to 1966, he simultaneously taught political economy, social sciences, and Cuban literature at the Ministry's School of Cadres, and at what was called the School of Technical and Professional Development. He was vice director of studies at the Preuniversity Institute of Havana.

In 1967 he became Head of Dissemination at the Ministry of Justice and Urban Reform. Later he would be director of the Information and Documentation Center of that same ministry, for several years. In 1968 the Minister of Justice had him simultaneously hold this position with that of director of a Forestry Plan in the province of Pinar del Río, and he left with other colleagues to help resolve the political and social problems that persisted in that area. He remained there for nearly two years and drew on this experience to write his first novel La última mujer y el próximo combate.

He was an advisor to the National Literature Department of the Ministry of Culture.

He collaborated with numerous periodical publications among which stand out El País Gráfico, Prensa Libre, Bohemia, Revolución, Verde Olivo, El Mundo, La Gaceta de Cuba, Romances, Mujeres, Casa de las Américas, Con la Guardia en Alto, Unión, El Caimán Barbudo, Cuba, Papeles de Son Armadans (Palma de Mallorca), Ahora (Santiago de Chile), and Tribuna (Romania).

His award-winning novel Cuando la sangre se parece al fuego has been translated into Slovak, Romanian, English, and Russian, the latter language into which his stories and poems have also been translated.

In 1969 he received an honorable mention in the David Contest for his book of poems Meditaciones y argumentos del transeúnte, and the short story prize in the "26 de Julio" Contest of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), for Tiempo de cambio. He won the novel prize in 1971 in the Casa de las Américas Contest for La última mujer y el próximo combate, a work that constitutes a landmark in Cuban social narrative and has been translated into more than 25 languages. In 1972 he won the short story prize in the Children's Contest "La Edad de Oro" for Las viejitas de las sombrillas. In the 1975 UNEAC Contest he received an honorable mention for his novel Cuando la sangre se parece al fuego.

Manuel Cofiño left behind work of deep social inspiration, with profound national roots, and provided testimony of Cuban reality in the sixties and seventies with vigorous traits. "All my work has a factual basis," said Cofiño. "Reality serves me as a springboard to create a new artistic reality." He also affirmed: "my characters are my contemporaries, they ride the bus with me, we walk together. They always accompany me."

In the prologue to one of the editions of La última mujer y el próximo combate, literary critic Manuel Rojas notes this profound commitment and its particular resonance in the literary landscape of the seventies: "Cuban narrative, with this novel, goes beyond clandestine struggle, beyond the peripheral or purely poetic, and enters into what the revolution is now: construction. It is a work of this moment: the heroes who fought become the heroes who work."

Cofiño's work is influenced in a special way by the narrative of the so-called American "lost generation," especially by authors such as Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, or John Dos Passos. Along with the realistic zeal that prevails in his narrative, the approach to the feminine figure from very diverse perspectives stands out significantly, especially in terms of the revaluation of women that resulted from the drastic social change brought about by the Cuban Revolution, her incorporation into study, into work, and in general into those roles that historically had been denied to her.

Manuel Cofiño was a leader of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and vice president of the Literature Section of that organization. For his meritorious work, the Cuban state and other countries awarded him several decorations, among which stand out the Distinction for National Culture and the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Simón Bolívar University of Colombia.

He died in the Cuban capital on April 8, 1987, at only 51 years of age and enjoyed recognized prestige, both at the national and international levels. His sudden death struck down a man who was in the prime of his abilities. He had many projects; death surprised him while he was concluding, together with his companion, Colombian writer Luz Elena Zabala, the novel Pastora de sueños, a narrative with a true sense of the Latin American.

Published Works
1957: His verses against tyranny were published in the popular newspaper Prensa Libre.
1962: He publishes his first book, a poetry notebook that he titled Borrasca, of which he only retained a bad memory.
1968: His short story Tiempo de cambio was published in the magazine Casa de las Américas, number 49, July-August.
1969: The short story Tiempo de cambio also served as the title of his first book of short stories.
1971: He writes his first novel La última mujer y el próximo combate, a volume of 334 pages, in the Casa edition, dedicated to his daughters and teacher Onelio Jorge Cardoso.
1972: He publishes his children's short story notebook Las viejitas de las sombrillas
1975: His second novel Cuando la sangre se parece al fuego is published by Unión Editions.
1976: The short story book Y un día el sol es juez is published by Arte y Literatura Publishing House.
1976: Arte y Literatura Publishing House publishes the novelette Para leer mañana.
1978: Gente Nueva publishing house publishes Historia de nuestras casas, a book that invites adolescents to take a brief tour of the evolution of housing in Cuba.
1979: He publishes the short story book Un pedazo de mar y una ventana with Letras Cubanas Publishing House.
1981: He published his third novel Amor a sombra y sol.
1982: His last collection of published short stories was Andando por ahí, por esas calles.
1984: He published the novelette El anzuelo dorado.
In Cuba he collaborated in the following publications: El País Gráfico, Prensa Libre, Bohemia, Revolución, Verde Olivo, El Mundo, La Gaceta de Cuba, Romances, Mujeres, Casa de las Américas, Con la guardia en alto, Unión, El Caimán Barbudo, and Cuba. He also did so in foreign publications.

Although he did not write scripts for television, all his short stories were adapted to this medium. Some with great success, such as the version of the short story Donde crece un framboyán that appears in the book Y un día el sol es juez.

Awards
In 1969 he received an honorable mention in the David Contest for his book of poems Meditaciones y Argumentos del transeúnte.
Short story prize in the July 26 Contest of MINFAR in 1969, with his book Tiempo de cambio.
Casa de las Américas Prize in 1971, for his first novel La última mujer y el próximo combate.
In 1972 he wins the prize of the Contest La Edad de Oro, with his children's notebook Las viejitas de las sombrilla.
In 1975 he received an honorable mention for his novel Cuando la sangre se parece al fuego in the UNEAC Contest.
Recognition

In honor of his outstanding professional work, the Municipal Library of Arroyo Naranjo bears his name and each year celebrates the Manuel Cofiño López Literary Contest.