Padilla, Herberto (1932–2000) Works   hu es

Biography

Heberto Padilla (20 January, 1932 – 24 September, 2000) was a Cuban poet. The Padilla Affair was named after him. He was born in Puerta de Golpe, Pinar del Río, Cuba. His first book of poetry, Las rosas audaces (The Audacious Roses), was published in 1948. After a failed first marriage and three children, he married poet Belkis Cuza Malé in 1972.

Although Padilla initially supported the revolution led by Fidel Castro, by the late 1960s he began to criticize it openly. In 1971, Padilla was imprisoned by the regime. His son, Ernesto Padilla, was born in 1972.

The reaction of the international intellectual and literary community to Padilla's incarceration and mock trial at the Writers Union led to his release from prison, but he was not allowed to leave the country until 1980. He lived in New York, Washington, D.C. and Madrid, until finally settling in Princeton, NJ. Padilla was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Farrar Straus & Giroux published several editions of his poetry, a novel, En mi jardín pastan los héroes', and a book of memoirs, La mala memoria'(Self-Portrait of the Other). He died on September 24, 2000 while teaching at Auburn University in Alabama.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heberto_Padilla

(Editor of this page: P. T.)