Mercedes Serafina Núñez de Villavicencio Ortiz

Serafina Núñez was and will be a woman swept by the wind, which is useful and dangerous at once, especially for whoever set out to delve into more than nine decades of her life where fire and passion, disenchantment and stillness, marked her poetic journey.

A poetess from Havana, lecturer at the Ateneo, the Lyceum, the Circle of Friends of French Culture and others. In the 1930s Juan Ramón Jiménez included her in La poesía cubana, from then on she would receive critical acclaim. Later Cintio Vitier includes her in the anthology 50 años de poesía en Cuba. After her poetry collection Paisaje y elegía she withdrew into a long editorial silence until 1992. She was anthologized in the collection of La poesía cubana in 1936. She worked as a primary school teacher. Founder of the National Union of Women.

She was born in the City of Havana, on Concordia Street between Espada and Hospital. She is the eldest of the daughters. Her parents' marriage also had six sons. Around age seven she was left orphaned of her mother.

She remained with her father and later, despite her brothers' criticism, came a new companion for him, who ended up being an older sister to Serafina. She was kind and understanding and in time left in Serafina's hands the management of the household, without having to perform the work that was her own, which she took care of. From that second marriage of her father were born four sons and one daughter who died at six months. Those boys were more generous than her own blood brothers.

She graduated as a certified teacher in Havana in 1936 and subsequently began studies in Education at the University of Havana in 1949, finishing through the third year when she began working as a primary school teacher. Work she would do until 1969.

Her professional beginning in the world of literature came through the Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, who included her in La poesía cubana in 1936 and would maintain a sincere friendship with her throughout his life, to the point of defraying the expenses of her first book Mar Cautiva (1937), and would write the prologue for Vigilia y secreto (1942).

During her literary life she would receive critical acclaim and the admiration and friendship of personalities such as Alfonso Reyes, Gabriela Mistral, and the already mentioned Juan Ramón Jiménez.

More than 30 years would pass without publishing until 1992 when the book Los reinos sucesivos saw the light, a tribute edition to the author. She received in 1995 the National Prize for Literary Criticism.

From that moment on various publications would follow, among which stand out the anthologies En las serenas márgenes (1999) edition financed by Unesco and Tierra de secreta transparencia, edition by Andalusian poet Diego Ropero Regidor and selection by Cuban poet Jorge Enrique González-Pacheco, based in the United States.

Editorial Torremozas and Fundación Juan Ramón Jiménez (2004). What is peculiar about Tierra de secreta transparencia is that it was created between Spain (Moguer and Madrid), the United States (Miami) and Cuba (Havana).

Later, in the year 2006, the Frente de Afirmación Hispanista publishes in Mexico a facsimile edition of her first volume, Mar Cautiva, with a prologue by researcher and Cuban poet based in Mexico, Roberto Carlos Hernández Ferro, who delivered into Serafina's hands the first book off the press, this just days before the death of the writer.

In 2001 she visited Miami as a guest of the International Book Fair of this American city, and among those present at the tribute were Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 and writer of Indian origin and resident in the United Kingdom, Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, Nobel Prize in Literature, 2001. Obtaining great recognition.

Serafina Núñez will continue to be one of the most powerful and representative voices of Cuban lyric poetry of all times, however, her work remains still little attended to by critics.

The poet passed away on June 16, 2006 at the age of 92.

Bibliography

1936: Antología de la Poesía Cubana en 1936
1937: Mar Cautiva
1938: Isla en el sueño (Includes a letter dedicated to her by Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral)
1942: Vigilia y Secreto (Prologue titled El Ansia Lírica by Juan Ramón Jiménez)
1956: Paisaje y Elegía (With prologue by writer, polyglot and Peruvian politician Luis Alberto Sánchez)
1994: Vitral del tiempo National Prize for Literary Criticism
1995: Moradas para la vida
1996: Porque es vivir un testimonio raro
1999: En las serenas márgenes
2000: Antología cósmica de Serafina Núñez
2000: Rosa de mi mansedumbre
2001: El herido diamante
2002: Cancioncillas
2003: Penélope
2004: Tierra de secreta transparencia
2007: Mar Cautiva. Facsimile Edition