Miguel Barnet Lanza

From a very young age, he became linked to leading figures in Cuban ethnology such as Argeliers León and Isaac Barreal. He collaborated with Alejo Carpentier at the Instituto Cubano del Libro and with National Poet Nicolás Guillén at the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC), an institution of which he is a founder and currently president by election.

At 21 years of age, he was part of the founding group of the Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and was part of the first work team of its newly created Instituto de Etnología y Folklore. During the seven years he worked as a scientific researcher at this institution, he received various courses in these subjects, taught by Cuban and foreign professors, and obtained high grades. He specialized in ethnological research and in aspects of the acculturation of religions of African origin in Cuba and the Caribbean. He is a graduate of the First Seminar on Ethnology and Folklore, taught by Cuban ethnologist and musicologist Argeliers León in 1960. In 1994 he created the Fundación Fernando Ortiz, of which he is president.

He is the most published living Cuban writer both inside and outside of Cuba. His bibliography exhibits the following titles: Biografía de un cimarrón, La piedra fina y el pavorreal, Isla de güijes, La sagrada familia, Oriki y otros poemas, Carta de noche, Mapa del tiempo, Viendo mi vida pasar and Con pies de gato (poetry); Autográfos cubanos, and La fuente viva (chronicle, essay); Akeké y la jutía (Cuban fables); Canción de Rachel, Gallego, La vida real and Oficio de ángel (testimonial novels).

He has written scripts for several documentary films and for the well-known Cuban feature films Gallego, based on his eponymous novel, and La Bella del Alhambra, inspired by his novel Canción de Rachel and awarded at the Festival Internacional de Cine de la Habana, as well as at other international competitions. This film received the Goya Prize in Spain in 1990 for best foreign Spanish-language film.

He has participated in congresses, literary events, recitals of poems from his own work, and has given lectures at universities in Europe, the United States, Latin America, and Africa. In addition to being an active cultural promoter in Cuba, he is a profound connoisseur of Cuban music, on which he has written and given illustrated lectures with Cuban artists of international stature. He was a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship System (DAAD) and of the John Simon Guggenheim institution of the United States.

He writes a work on the divination systems of Cuban Santería and some chronicles of his travels to Africa and Asia. His testimonial novels are very well known worldwide.

Miguel Barnet has written scripts for several documentary films and for the well-known Cuban feature films Gallego, based on his eponymous novel, and La bella del Alhambra, inspired by his novel Canción de Rachel and awarded at the Festival Internacional del Cine de La Habana and at other international competitions. This film received the Goya Prize in Spain in 1990.

He has received numerous distinctions in Cuba and abroad, among which stand out the Distinction for National Culture, the Alejo Carpentier medal, the Giraldilla de La Habana and, recently, the highest distinction of Cuban culture, the order Félix Varela of First Degree and the distinction Juan Gualberto Gómez. He has also received international recognitions, among others the García Lorca prize from Andalucía, Spain, and the medal of the city of Colonia, Germany. He was a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship System (DAAD) and of the John Simon Guggenheim institution of the United States.

In 1996 he was appointed by UNESCO and by the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Cuba as a member of the Executive Board of that organization.

In that same year he received the title of Master in Contemporary History granted by the Universidad de La Habana, and in February 1997, at the proposal of the aforementioned institution of higher education, the Cuban National Commission of Scientific Degrees granted him the title of Doctor in Historical Sciences. He has received the following decorations: medal of the French Senate, Officer of the National Merit of France, the Cross of Merit of Germany, Illustrious Guest of the city of Camagüey and Illustrious Guest of the city of Villa Clara.

In 1994 he obtained the National Literature Prize of Cuba. In 2002 the International Book Fair was dedicated to him as recognition of his life and work. The Federation of Spanish Societies of Cuba conferred upon him the Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra Distinction in 2008. In 2010 the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba presented him with the Master of Youth Distinction.

He was president of the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba from 2007-2019. In 2019 he was named President of Honor of UNEAC.

Member of the Council of State (2018)
In the Constitutive Session of the IX Legislature on April 19, 2018, members of Parliament elected him as a member of the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. [3].

Works
Novels
1966: Biografía de un cimarrón. La Habana: Unión, 1966.
1969: Canción de Rachel. La Habana: Unión, 1969.
1983: Gallego.
1986: La vida real.
1998: La fuente viva (libro de Miguel Barnet). La Habana: Letras Cubanas, second edition, 1998.
1999: Autógrafos cubanos. La Habana: Artex, 1999.
En el humo inasible de los idos.
2018: En el humo inasible de los idos. Matanzas: Ediciones Matanzas, 2018.

Poetry
1963: La piedrafina y el pavorreal.
1964: Isla de güijes.
1967: La sagrada familia.
1980: Orikis y otros poemas
1982: Carta de noche
1987: Viendo mi vida pasar (anthology).
1989: Mapa del tiempo.
1993: Poemas chinos.
1993: Con pies de gato (anthology).
2000: Actas del final.
Essay and Ethnology
1978: Akeké y la jutía (Cuban fables).
La Habana: Manjuarí (UNEAC), 1978.
La Habana: Gente Nueva, 1998.
Akeké y la jutía.
1995: Cultos afrocubanos. La Regla de Ocha. La Regla de Palo Monte.
1998: La fuente viva.

Awards, Orders, Distinctions and Decorations
1983: Prize of Literary Criticism for Gallego, 1983
1986: Prize of Literary Criticism for La vida real, 1986
Diploma Prize 30 Years of ICAIC. La Bella del Alhambra
Alejo Carpentier Medal
1994: National Literature Prize
1995: Félix Varela Order
1996: Juan Marinello Order
2006: Juan Rulfo Prize in the short story category.
2011: Mihai Eminescu International Poetry Prize, 2011.
Honoris Causa Doctorate from Constantin Brancusi University.
2018: Latin Awards Canada.
2018: Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad José Martí de Latinoamérica in Mérida (Yucatán).
2019: Special Prize for Cultural Journalism José Antonio Fernández de Castro for life's work, in recognition of his long and fruitful connection with cultural journalism, 2019.