Leonardo Padura continues living in Havana even though his books are not published here

November 11, 2022

From a terrace with views, in the historic center of Havana, Cuban writer Leonardo Padura talks about his latest novel "Decent People", published by Tusquets. His novel does not reach local bookstores and Cuban media do not mention it, despite Padura being considered the most widely read living Cuban writer inside and outside the island. The 67-year-old author returns to Cuba after months of absence amid the international promotion of his new book.

"My books have been published for many years by a Spanish publishing house, that publishing house publishes them throughout the scope of the language and my books are in bookstores in any country, they are in bookstores in Mexico, in Spain, in Argentina, everywhere except in Cuban bookstores. And it is part of what I have called a process of making my figure invisible here in Cuba.

Cuban readers are already used to it, and it is a practice that is not only reflected in literature, it is reflected in all sectors of life, people in Cuba look for alternatives, and one of the alternatives is that this novel came to market in Spain on August 31st and by September 1st there was already a pirated copy circulating on Cuban sites", says Cuban writer Leonardo Padura.

Despite the many difficulties the island is going through, Padura affirms that only in Cuba does his life make sense. And on this walk he evokes a strong sense of belonging to Havana, which is his place and especially his Mantilla neighborhood.

"Uprooting is terrible for anyone, for a writer it is fatal because a writer, that is called uprooting because your roots are exposed and the writer must have roots in a territory in order to feed himself. One could think that I could have a less complicated material life elsewhere in the world, but I am sure that I will not have as complete a spiritual life as the one I have in Cuba", Padura concludes.

The novel plays with parallel stories. One of them tells how Havana was stirred up in 2016 with the visit of Barack Obama and the Rolling Stones concert, Padura says that "it was like a parenthesis", a year later Donald Trump reversed it all. "Decent People" will be published in 2023 in English and French.