Sigifredo Álvarez Conessa

Cuban poet and playwright. His presence figures, as an active participant, in theater and cinematography, advisory work for literary workshops, cultural promotion, children's literature, essay writing, and criticism, without thereby exhausting the range of his interests.

He was born in Regla, Ciudad de La Habana and lived for many years in Guanabo with his children and his wife Elia, to whom most of his books are dedicated.

He completed his primary studies and began his secondary education at the Instituto de La Habana but did not graduate. In 1951 he traveled to the United States. He lived through the period of effervescence and creation of various cultural institutions born after 1959. He enrolled in the School for Art Instructors.

After the triumph of the Revolution he entered the theater section of the National School of Art Instructors; he worked as a professor with the Conjunto Dramático of Pinar del Río in 1964. That same year he was part of the Provincial Commission of Literature and Publications of the Coordination of Culture.

As an instructor he directed amateur theater groups in Pinar del Río and Mariel. He directed professional theater with the group El Candil and the Juvenile Theater of La Habana. He adapted and directed children's theatrical pieces. He held important positions at the Musical Theater of La Habana and became General Director of the National Guiñol Theater, although perhaps his greatest legacy remains with the Brigada Hermanos Saíz, of which he was one of the founders and a member of its first executive board.

His death—completely unexpected—on December 27, 2004, at the age of 66, cut short a very fruitful career in island letters and active production that left some unpublished texts. In his honor, and for his work over many years advising literary workshops, the Ministry of Culture established the annual creation scholarship that bears his name, to encourage research and literary development among young authors.

Works
He began publishing his poetry collections at an early date:
Matar el tiempo, 1969
Como a una batalla, 1974
Será bandera, fuego en la cumbre, 1978
Casa de madera azul, 1985; Árbol incendiado es la noche, 1988
El tiempo es un pelícano, 1990
El piano náufrago, 2000

As well as his short story collections:
Sobre el techo llueven naranjas, in 1988
Yo invento la rosa, in 1997
His books Matar el tiempo, Como a una batalla and Casa de madera azul testify to his life in the poetry he found everywhere, especially in the unknown poets of the most remote towns.

Awards
In 1968 he obtained an honorable mention in poetry at the David Competition of the UNEAC with his book Matar el tiempo.
He received the Julián del Casal award from the UNEAC in 1985 for his book Casa de madera azul.
He was equally deserving of the distinctions for National Culture and Raúl Gómez García.

Collaborations
He has collaborated in La Simiente, La Gaceta de Cuba, Mella, Unión, El Caimán Barbudo, Juventud Rebelde, Casa de las Américas, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional, Cormorán and Delfín (Argentina) and La Pájara Pinta (El Salvador).

He worked at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico. His texts also appear in Poland, Greece, Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico and Sweden.

Relevance
The mark left by Sigifredo Álvarez Conessa on the landscape of Cuban literature deserves recognition that goes beyond considering this author simply as a poet.