Rafaela Chacón Nardi

Cuban poet and renowned pedagogue, she accumulated more than 30 titles, deserving of the Alejo Carpentier medal for her work, in addition to other distinctions.

She studied teaching and later earned a degree in Pedagogy with outstanding results. This led her to work as a professor at the Escuela Normal para Maestros and in the summer courses at the universities of La Habana and Las Villas.

Beyond teaching, she had the gift of literary creation, which is why her first works appeared in the pages of the Gaceta del Caribe, Noticias de Hoy, El Mundo, El País, and in the magazines Lyceum and Bohemia.

Four years before Rafaela Chacón Nardi published her first book, the editors of La Gaceta Literaria del Caribe had already noticed the emergence of a voice that would enrich Cuban poetry with very personal contributions, and they called her a "new artistic hope".

To this prediction was added in 1948 the recognition of Gabriela Mistral, when following the publication of Viaje al sueño she wrote to its author: "your book is the best collection of women's poems that has reached me in years. Its quality and its femininity have captivated me. Two readings, both overflowing with grace. I am grateful to you for them. It pleases me that we have two common professions, Rafaela of Cuba..."

Rafaela Chacón Nardi wrote her first verses between the ages of seven and eleven, but it was in adolescence when she felt the real need to express herself through what Martí called the language of beauty. And she devoted so many hours to this concern that in some measure she put her career at the Escuela Normal de Maestros de La Habana at risk.

More than once during that initial stage, she questioned the usefulness and value of what she was writing, which led her to approach someone who had a well-earned reputation for being intelligent and critical: Mirta Aguirre. And she immediately warned her against facility and effect, evils that can be common in any budding poet or writer, and also recommended that she "strike hard the iron of the classics".

The extensive and fruitful authorial work of Rafaela is evident in her twenty published titles—not only poetry—as well as in her work directing the Grupo de Expresión Creadora and promoting reading. Among those titles, besides Viaje al sueño, re-edited in 1957 with the addition of 36 new poems and Mistral's foreword letter, the poetry collections De rocío y de humo (1965), Del silencio y las voces (1978), Coral del aire (1982), Una mujer desde su isla canta (1994) and Mínimo paraíso (1997) stand out, the latter a compilation of her décimas, edited by Mayra Hernández, who is the author of a thorough and precise Study of the poetics of Rafaela Chacón Nardi (1996).

Recipient among other distinctions of the Alejo Carpentier Medal, for her literary work and her social pedagogical vocation, Nicolás Guillén

Publications

Within her lyrical production, the following volumes stand out:

Viaje al sueño (1948 and 1957 in expanded edition)
Del silencio y las voces (1978)
Coral del aire (1982)
Una mujer desde su isla canta (1994)
Vuelta de hoja (1995)
Mínimo paraíso (1997)
Del íntimo esplendor (2000).

Awards and Distinctions

The distinguished pedagogue and writer deserved the Alejo Carpentier medal for her work, and other distinctions.

With simplicity and talent, always intoxicated with love, as is evident in her work, Rafaela Chacón Nardi, managed to awaken praise from towering figures in literature, such as Mirta Aguirre, José Antonio Portuondo, Ángel Augier and Nicolás Guillén.