Abilio Estévez

Abilio Estévez has been resident in Barcelona for 10 years. He has a degree in Hispanic Language and Literature from the University of Havana, where he published the book of short stories Juego con Gloria. He has written three critically acclaimed novels published by Tusquets Editors (Barcelona) that have been translated into nine languages: Tuyo es el reino (Cuban Critics’ Prize 1999 and, in France, Prize to the Best Book Written in a Foreign Language 2000); Los palacios distantes, selected by La Vanguardia newspaper as the Best Book of 2002; El navegante dormido (2008) and El bailarín ruso de Montecarlo (2010).

He is also the author of the book of short stories El horizonte y otros regresos and the miscellaneous books Inventario secreto de La Habana and Manual de las tentaciones (Luis Cernuda Prize, Seville, 1986, and Cuban Critics’ Prize, 1987), along with texts for the theatre: La verdadera culpa de Juan Clemente Zenea (Cuban Writers and Artists’ Union Prize 1984) and La noche (Tirso de Molina Prize 1994, Spain). His plays have been successfully staged in Havana, Miami, New York, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Bogotá and Santo Domingo. He has also written articles, prologues and studies of Cuban cultural figures such as Lino Novás Calvo, Virgilio Piñera, José Lezama Lima, José Martí and Julián del Casal.