Padura admits he thinks about living outside Cuba every day, but says "everything" keeps him on the island

June 7, 2026

Cuban writer Leonardo Padura, winner of the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, acknowledged in an interview given from Ávila, Spain, that he thinks every day about the possibility of living outside Cuba, yet maintains that "everything" keeps him on the island.

Padura, who was in Spain promoting his latest novel Morir en la arena (Tusquets, 2025), explained that what keeps him tied to Cuba is his surroundings, his language, his home, and his mother — elements that, according to the author, make a definitive break with his country impossible.

"I think about it every day," the writer admitted. Padura is best known internationally for his series of detective novels featuring Lieutenant Mario Conde, translated into dozens of languages and winner of the most prestigious awards in crime fiction.

Padura's remarks come at a time when the emigration of Cuban intellectuals and artists is a topic of growing debate both inside and outside the island.

The Havana-born writer, raised in Mantilla and born in 1955, remains one of the most recognized voices in Latin American literature and one of the few major Cuban writers who continues to reside in Havana.