MSc. Yonnier Torres Rodríguez, instructor of Literature at the University of Informatics Sciences. Photo: Alberto Medina Cruz
Yonnier triumphed in Macondo
MSc. Yonnier Torres Rodríguez, instructor of Literature at the University of Informatics Sciences. Photo: Alberto Medina Cruz
If it were a common name, it would appear in the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language and would say: MSc.Yonnier Torres Rodríguez: sensitivity, talent and one of the most recognized voices of contemporary Cuban literature.
But it is not a common name and therefore we have to say that it is a sociologist, poet, and narrator. And add that he is an instructor of literature at the University of Informatics Sciences (known as UCI), where he feeds his creation. Yonnier belongs to the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and has more than twelve published works.
This year Yonnier increased his harvest of success by obtaining the Calendar Prize in poetry, with the poemario entitled God does not take me into account, a contest that takes place biannually in that genre, in narrative, science fiction, children's and essay.
Recently a phone call again made his heart beat faster: he won the first place in the Buscando a Macondo contest, which Telesur television called for writers from Latin America in tribute to the 90th anniversary of the birth of the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez.
Looking for details, we approached the Cultural Center Wifredo Lam of the UCI and we saw him in his office, imbued with his thoughts and with the look still in that imaginary town of One hundred years of solitude of the Nobel Prize of Literature.
Yonnier: The bases asked to make a story, which happened in Macondo. When I received the prize, I was first surprised that I had forgotten that I had sent the story Arena to the contest.
"I received the news through a call and I had to go and record a direct pass from Cuba to Venezuela. It filled me with joy and, of course, also personal satisfaction. "
Journalist: And the Calendar award?
Y: The work was presented at the last edition of the International Book Fair of Havana and will be published by Editora Abril next year.
"It is a very important prize in the young art in Cuba. Young Cubans always have a great interest in earning it. We compete year after year to get it. I got the 2010 prize in the story category and this year was in poetry. That makes me full of emotion and joy. "
Q: You have won several prizes, what do they mean for you?
Y: I believe that the awards are a kind of push, incentive or motivation to continue writing, and also are a commitment of the writer's own work towards the public. It stimulates to continue in this incessant work of the writing.
Q: When did you start writing and what genres did you enter?
Y: I started writing stories in 2006, ten years ago. Then I went on to writing novels and discovered an amazing world in regards to my personal creation. The novel gave me the possibility of extending myself, of playing with the characters, of feeling myself with them.
"I had a funny time, I was handling the story, but then it also handled me: if the character was sad, I was sad, if it was happy, I was happy. That is, I felt very identified with what I was writing and was a kind of puppeteer that did not wind up, but the puppet managed the puppeteer.
"Then I tried to get involved in other genres, I entered science fiction, also the story and the novel. And now I decided to insert myself in the poetic genre and I did God does not take me into account, with which I won the Calendar award. "
To know more about this talented writer, I invite you to visit: http://www.lajiribilla.cu/autor/yonnier-torres-rodriguez
