To celebrate the 80th birthday of writer and essayist Nancy Morejón (Havana, 1944), members of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac) held a special jubilee celebration in the organisation’s Villena Hall, where the National Literature Prize winner’s career was honoured.

In her speech, the renowned author stressed that her work defends identity and Cuban identity.

Wherever I go, Cuba always accompanies me, said the author of the book of poems Madrigal para un príncipe negro (2020) in a dialogue with Magda Resik, first vice-president of Uneac.

Morejón commented on her passion for writing and said that she never stops creating, because despite the passing of the years she feels the need to capture something on each blank page.

What I do does not depend on my inspiration, although it plays an important role, she said.

I not only admire Nancy’s qualities as a writer, but also as a person, born in the Havana neighbourhood of Los Sitios, so distant from my own in many ways,» confessed Miguel Barnet, ethnologist and honorary president of Uneac.

He said that his bond with the intellectual multilaureate has been based on total complicity and their common perspective of love for Cuban culture and values.

The meeting to pay tribute to Nancy Morejón was attended by prominent creators of music, literature and plastic artists, who have become admirers of the vast work and career of the author of Piedra pulida (1986).

The creator, a reference in Cuban and universal literature, defends in her texts racial integration, human values, women’s rights and the identity of the largest of the Antilles.

She has held the National Literature Prize since 2001 and has won the Critics’ Prize on four occasions, as well as other international awards.

As a researcher, she has devoted herself to the study of the work of Nicolás Guillén and literature in the Caribbean region.

She is one of the full members of the Cuban Academy of Language, which she headed between 2012 and 2016, she chaired the Association of Writers of Uneac and was an advisor to Casa de las Américas.