Three Cuban women writers on Arcadia magazine's list of the 100 best books written by women

December 13, 2019

The 2019 Arcadia List presented 100 books written exclusively by female authors in Spanish, including works by 3 Cuban women.

These are "Black Stories of Cuba" by Lydia Cabrera, "Garden" by Dulce María Loynaz, and "The Traveler's Shadow" by Ena Lucía Portela.

The magazine decided this year to recognize, unlike on previous occasions, the work of women writers over the last hundred years (1919-2019), whose selection was carried out by an international jury made up of 91 members in total.

"With this we want to rescue good literature written by women and turn our gaze to the journey itself; to those who opened the way by writing when no one was listening to them and to those who followed in their footsteps. Today those voices are stronger than ever," explains the Colombian publication.

Regarding the criteria to which the works were subjected, Arcadia summarizes the following: "To ensure impartiality and diversity of perspectives, we convened a jury of ninety experts composed of academics and professors of Spanish American literature from different universities around the world (almost all international) and some literary critics. Each jury member presented ten titles."

In the review of "Black Stories of Cuba" by Lydia Cabrera, her brief narratives stand out in which fables and myths predominate, with a strong presence of African heritage on the Island. Its first appearance in French was presented under the Gallimard publishing house.

On the other hand, Arcadia describes that the selected work by Dulce María Loynaz was finished in 1935, but was not published until 16 years later.

"It is a lyrical novel starring Bárbara, a woman confined in a colonial mansion in Havana who dreams of another life. Hers consists of wandering through an imprecise, undefined and dreamlike garden," explains the magazine.

Loynaz is one of the most prominent writers of Cuban literature, and the only woman from the Island who received the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (1992), which only two other Cuban authors have obtained: Alejo Carpentier and Guillermo Cabrera Infante.

More recent (2001) is the novel "The Traveler's Shadow" by Ena Lucía Portela, whose backdrop—refers the publication—is Havana in the nineties, "full of dead ends and people without a future."

Arcadia, which upholds the value of these writers, is a Colombian magazine specializing in cultural journalism, and its first launch took place just over 14 years ago, in 2005. Its issues come out every month and reflect national and international topics.

Other important authors such as the Chilean Gabriela Mistral and the Mexican Elena Poniatowska, among others, also appear on the list.