Mary Cruz

Born in Camagüey. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Pedagogy from the University of La Habana. She worked as a style editor and scientific writer for the Editorial of the Ministry of Education of Cuba. Corresponding member of the Academy of the History of Cuba (1962). She obtained two mentions in the July 26 Contest of the FAR and in the UNEAC Contest (1966). She was a Spanish professor for several years in the United States. Researcher at the Institute of Literature and Linguistics. She collaborated in El País, Gráfico, Cuba, El Mundo and other publications.

The work of this author of poetry, essays, novels, short stories, biographies and literary research has not ceased to grow since the 1940s of the twentieth century, when she began working for radio in her native city Camagüey.

She is one of the creators who – within the current boom of Cuban women novelists – stands out for her fidelity to the region in which she was born and for her long and laborious work.

She completed her primary studies and high school in Camagüey. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Pedagogy from the University of La Habana in 1946.

She studied Teaching of Modern and Foreign Languages and Vocational Guidance at Wayne University, Detroit, United States (1954-1955) and at Coral Gables University, Florida, United States (1956 – 1958)

She was a Spanish professor at the universities: Wayne University (1953 - 1955), North Miami Beach High School (1956 – 1961), University of La Habana (1963 – 1964). She worked as a style editor and scientific writer at the Editorial of the Ministry of Education of Cuba (1906 – 1966). As a journalist she worked at the national COR and at Granma.

She has collaborated in the following publications:
El País Gráfico
Colorama
Ellas
Vanidades
Cuba
Islas
El Mundo
El Caimán Barbudo
Unión
Anuario L/L
Negro y Blanco y Labores
Ideas
Jueves de Excélsior (Mexico)
Diario las Américas (United States)
She worked as a literary researcher at the Institute of Literature and Linguistics of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

She has traveled through Mexico, Canada, Soviet Union. She attended the First National Congress of Culture, La Habana, 1962. Corresponding member of the Academy of the History of Cuba.

Published Works
Mis versos, La Habana, 1941
Camagüey, biografía de una provincia (1955)
El Mayor (1972)
Creto Gangá (1974)
El ingenioso naturalista don Felipe de La Habana (1979)
Cuba y Hemingway en el gran río azul (1981)
Niña Tula (1998)
Tula (2001)
Doña Tula
El hombre Martí
She wrote the prologue and notes to the edition of the novel Sab by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, (La Habana, Instituto Cubano del Libro, 1973).

Characteristics of Her Work
Mary Cruz organizes her novels with poetic cohesion and with a tone capable of ensuring transgressive results to the history she addresses, without distorting reality or sparing the investigation of first-hand documents. She is faithful to fiction, but does not distort historical facts.

Awards
J.M. Tarafa of the Academy of the History of Cuba for Camagüey, biografía de una provincia, 1955.
Mention in the Contest of the National Theater of Cuba, 1962
Mentions of biography in the July 26 contests of the FAR, 1966