Matías Montes Huidobro

Professor, playwright, narrator, poet, essayist, literary researcher and Cuban editor. Recipient of numerous awards, this author's literary work has been widely anthologized and has been the subject of critical attention.

Matías Montes Huidobro was born in Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara. He completed his secondary education at Instituto Nro. 1 de La Habana, and subsequently obtained a doctorate in Pedagogy from the Universidad de La Habana.

Early Works
In 1951 he became known as a poet with the publication of his poem "La vaca de los ojos largos", repeatedly anthologized; as a narrator, with the publication of his short story "El hijo noveno" in the magazine Bohemia; as an essayist, in the pages of the magazine Nueva Generación, of which he is one of its founders.

Between 1959 and 1961 he resumed his creative activity with renewed vigor and premiered several dramatic works: Los acosados, Gas en los poros, La botija, El tiro por la culata and Las vacas –the latter received the Premio José Antonio Ramos in 1961. He exercised theatrical criticism in the newspaper Revolución, where he also published articles on the editorial page. He collaborated extensively in Lunes de Revolución and was a theatrical commentator on a weekly program on CMBF. Furthermore, he taught classes at the School of Journalism until his departure from Cuba on November 27, 1961.

In the United States, La Madre y la Guillotina (1976) premiered, which has been staged on multiple occasions in Spanish and in English. Also Exilio (finalist in the Letras de Oro competition of 1987 and published in 1988 by Editorial Persona) has been staged in Miami in 1988 and 1996. La navaja de Olofé premiered at the First Miami Hispanic Theater Festival in 1986.

Professor
Between 1962 and 1964 he settled in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he taught in the community's secondary schools. In 1964 he moved to the Universidad de Hawai, where his wife also taught until both of their retirement in 1997 as Professors Emeriti of that institution. They went to reside in Miami, where they continue writing and publishing. During his long professional career, Montes Huidobro has also been invited to teach at the Universidad de Pittsburgh, at Swarthmore College and at the Universidad del Estado de Arizona and has participated in countless university conferences in the United States and in other countries.
Disseminator

In addition to his extensive work as a creator and essayist, he has developed notable work as a disseminator of Cuban letters. In 1976 he founded, with the collaboration of his wife, the magazine Caribe, of which initially four issues appeared. The magazine would continue to be published subsequently, in a new stage, thanks to the work of professors Jorge Febles and Armando González-Pérez.

Between 1987 and 1991 he founded Editorial Persona, intended to preserve Cuban cultural heritage, while in 1995, 1998 and 2001, Anales Literarios would publish monographic issues of incalculable value on Cuban drama, poetry and narrative. Finally, in the year 2000 he created Pro Teatro Cubano with a similar objective in relation to theater.

In his literary trajectory, he received the only mention in a competition sponsored by the Fondo de Cultura Económica for Desterrados al fuego (1975). He was a finalist for the Cáseres award, for Short Novel, for Segar a los muertos (1980); he was also a finalist for the Premio Planeta, from Spain, for Lamentación en tres estancias (1970).

Awards
As a playwright, he receives the Premio Prometeo for Sobre las mismas rocas.
He received the Premio Café Gijón for the Novel for Esa fuente de dolor (1999), and also for Concierto para sordos (2001) and Parto en el cosmos (2002).

Matías remained active and creative until his final days, especially after the death last year of his wife, the intellectual and muse Yara González Montes with whom he had married in the 1950s.