Fina García Marruz Passed Away, One of the Great Latin American Poets

June 28, 2022

Poet Fina García-Marruz, one of the most extraordinary poetic voices in Latin American literature, passed away on June 27 in Havana.

On its Twitter account, Casa de las Américas confirmed the news, lamenting the loss of who was a member of the Orígenes group and also a lucid essayist.

Fina García Marruz was born in Havana on April 28, 1923. Her poetry has been translated into several languages. Among other anthologies, she appears in the one compiled by Carmen Conde: Eleven Great Spanish American Poets, Madrid, 1967; and in Margaret Randall's: Breaking the silence, Vancouver, Canada, 1982.

She received the National Literature Prize in 1990, and the VIII International Poetry Prize City of Granada Federico García Lorca in 2011, becoming the third woman to win this award after Malaga-born writer Maria Victoria Atencia García, winner in 2010, and Peruvian Blanca Valera, in 2006.

Other awards and distinctions include the José Martí Order from the hands of General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz on April 28, 2013; the Order "Alejo Carpentier"; the Order "Félix Varela" in 1995; the Distinction for National Culture and the Raúl Gómez García; the Fernando Ortiz Medal of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba; the 30th Anniversary Medal of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba; and the August 23 Distinction of the Cuban Women's Federation.

She was Professor Emerita at the University of Havana; and received the National Prize for Cultural Research in 2005; and the Queen Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry in 2011.

The tribute of Cuban culture and our people to Fina García Marruz will take place this Tuesday, June 28 starting at 8 in the morning at the Center for Martian Studies, on Calzada and 4 in Vedado, an institution where she worked for several years.

According to the Ministry of Culture, her burial will be at Colón Cemetery, at 2:00 pm in the afternoon.