Amir Valle

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Amir Valle (2012)

Amir Valle Ojeda (born January 6, 1967 in Guantánamo ) is a Cuban writer , journalist and literary critic . He lives and works in Berlin .

Life

Amir Valle grew up in Antonio Maceo in today's province of Holguín as the son of a teacher who had actively participated in the revolution against Fulgencio Batista . As a teenager he went to Santiago de Cuba . He studied journalism there and journalism in Havana . Since then he has worked as an author, literary critic and journalist. He has been awarded national and international literary prizes, including a. with the Cuban “La Llama Doble” prize for erotic novels, which he was awarded in 2000 and again in 2003.

His short stories and literary reviews appeared not only in Cuba, but were also published in Europe and the United States from 1997 onwards. The increasing international success was viewed critically by the Cuban regime and its work was hindered as a result. In return, Amir Valle refused to obey the cultural and political program of the island dictatorship. He initially worked with non-governmental cultural initiatives and published 30 issues of his own culture magazine Letras en Cuba on the Internet until the authorities blocked his e-mail access. He has also repeatedly expressed himself critical of the political situation in Cuba to international journalists.

A ban on his books in his home country could not prevent his works from spreading in Europe and the United States . After public criticism of the government on a trip abroad, he was warned by the authorities that he could be forbidden from returning home, although this was not actually implemented at the time. Valle was prevented from making a later trip abroad because he was not issued the necessary exit permit. A high point reached the reprisals as a resolution of the Ministry of Culture, a co -working ban imposed by him. A study by Valles on prostitution in Cuba ("Habana Babilonia o Prostitutas en Cuba"), which revealed scandalous conditions , was published abroad, but was also widely distributed in electronic form in Cuba.

In autumn 2005, Valle presented his literature at a festival in Spain, as he had done repeatedly since 1999. Subsequently, however, the Cuban government denied him the right to return to his home country. When the family also did not receive a permit for the then five-year-old son to move to Europe with his parents, Valle turned to the Nobel laureates Gabriel García Márquez and José Saramago, who were friends with the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro . A week later, the Cuban authorities issued the exit permit and Valles son was able to leave Cuba in July 2006. That same summer, Castro referred to the disgraced writer Valle on a television program as "jineterólogo" (derogatory term used to describe an expert in prostitutes, something like "nutologist"). A year later, his 18-year-old first son was also able to leave Cuba.

In March 2006, Amir Valle came to Germany as a guest at the Heinrich Böll House in Langenbroich . In August of the same year he received a “Writers in Exile” grant from the PEN Center Germany. Since then he has lived with his family in Germany.

In 2007 he founded the Spanish- American culture magazine Otro Lunes , which he still directs today and in which he writes the column Palabras de revés . Since June 2010 he has also been running his blog A título personal , in which he mainly speaks about Cuban politics and literature.

Works

Valle published sixteen novels and numerous short stories by 2009.

stories

  • Tiempo en cueros (1988)
  • Yo soy el malo (1989)
  • En el nombre de Dios (1990), Ediciones Unión, Premio Nacional de Testimonio “Ruben Martínez Villena” de la UNEAC, 1988
  • La danza alucinada del suicida (1999)
  • El ojo de la noche . Antología del cuento femenino (1999)
  • Manuscritos del muerto (2000)
  • La nostalgia es un tango de Gardel / La nostalgia est un tango de Gardel (2008)

Novels

  • Ciudad jamás perdida. (1998)
  • Las puertas de la noche. (2001, 2002)
    • The doors of the night. Havana episode I. from the span. by Bernhard Straub. Edition Cologne, 2005, ISBN 3-936791-21-X .
  • Muchacha azul bajo la lluvia. (2001, 2008)
  • Si Cristo te desnuda. (2001, 2002)
    • When Cristo undresses you. Havana episode II from the span. by Bernhard Straub. Edition Cologne, 2006, ISBN 3-936791-26-0 .
  • Entre el miedo y las sombras. (2004)
  • Los desnudos de Dios. (2004)
  • Últimas noticias del infierno. (2005)
  • Santuario de sombras. (2006)
    • Shelter of the shadows. Havana episode IV. From the span. by Bernhard Straub. Edition Cologne, 2008, ISBN 978-3-936791-81-5 .
  • Las palabras y los muertos. (2007) Premio Internacional de Novela Mario Vargas Llosa
  • Tatuajes. Terranova Edition, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9791428-1-9 .
  • Largas noches con Flavia. (2008)
  • Lust. (with Isabel Blare) from the span. by Monika Heine. Edition Cologne, 2009, ISBN 978-3-936791-91-4 .
  • Hugo Spadafora - Bajo la piel del hombre. Aguilar-Santillana, Panama 2013, ISBN 978-9962-8502-0-5

Non-fiction

  • Habana Babilonia - Jineteras. (2006)
  • La Habana : Puerta de las Américas (2009), Almed, Granada, ISBN 978-84-936685-3-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rafael Vilches: Entrevista a Amir Valle, in: Cuadernos de Pensamiento Plural Winter 2013 (PDF), pp. 25–30, accessed on May 30, 2014 (Spanish)
  2. ↑ a b The climate is getting rougher , in: Der Bund from January 17, 2004, accessed on July 19, 2012
  3. ^ Moritz von Stetten: With an open visor , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung of July 17, 2012
  4. ↑ Axel Gyldén: "A La Havane, les prostituées sont des modèles de réussite" , in: L'Express from March 1, 2010, accessed on July 19, 2012 (French)
personal data
SURNAME Valle, Amir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Valle Ojeda, Amir (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Guantánamo , Cuba