Fowler is one of the most important writers of his generation. Born in 1960 to an Afro-Cuban family, he belongs to the first generation of writers born in Revolutionary Cuba. This was the generation that was supposed to provide the nation with what Che Guevara called the “new man.” In reality, this expectation was not fulfilled—few adopted the morals of Revolutionary life out of disinterested altruism. In fact, most of the writers of Fowler’s generation have gone into exile. In contrast, Fowler has remained on the island, and has published 10 volumes of poetry and 5 of essays, in addition to a number of edited volumes and important collaborations. He has broken new ground in Cuban letters with extensive essays on the body, race and sexuality. His poetry, rich and allusive, gives us a window onto the complex realities of life in revolutionary Cuba.
A round table or "conversatorio" in Spanish with the port and members of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (Professor Ben Heller and graduate students Paola Uparela and Héctor Melo Ruiz) on Tuesday, October 14, at 4:30 p.m. in Special Collections, Hesburgh Library. The topic of the "conversatorio" will be "Raza, literatura y política cultural de la Cuba actual." Reception to follow.
This event is made possible in part by support from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures Fernández Funds, andthe Fernández Caribbean Initiative, the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies, and the Sturtevant Fund of the Creative Writing Program.
For more information please see the article in the October 12, 2014 South Bend Tribune, at: "Cuban poet reads at ND" by Howard Dukes.