Writers, critics and readers will gather in Havana on Thursday 8 January to honour María Elena Llana on the occasion of her 90th birthday. The event, part of the series El elogio oportuno and presented by journalist and critic Fernando Rodríguez Sosa, will take place at Librería Fayad Jamís in the historic centre of the city at 3:00 pm.
María Elena Llana and her literary legacy
The programme will feature critical readings and discussion of Llana’s work by researcher Zaida Capote Cruz and fiction writer Jorge Ángel Hernández Pérez. Attendees will also be able to access a digital edition of Casas del Vedado (1983), published for this occasion by Editorial Letras Cubanas, and enjoy a musical contribution from young guitarist Saúl Jábega.
Llina’s career spans more than six decades across print media, radio, television and news agencies. Born in Cienfuegos on 17 January 1936, she graduated from the Manuel Márquez Sterling School of Journalism in 1958 and undertook studies at the San Alejandro School of Fine Arts. Her varied training and long professional life have informed a body of work of around 15 books and numerous contributions to Cuban and international anthologies.
Her writing has repeatedly drawn attention for its inventive use of fantastic narrative and for a stylistic dexterity that challenges urban myths and conventional expectations. Poet Nancy Morejón has highlighted Llana’s command of unusual themes and the stylistic skill that has distinguished her fiction. Fellow writer Marilyn Bobes León has noted that Casas del Vedado won the esteem of critics and readers and continues to be sought out for its original contribution to Spanish-language fantastic literature.
The recognition of Llana’s work has included major national honours. She was awarded the National Literature Prize in 2023 and has received the Prize of the Literary Critics, the Distinction for National Culture and the Maestro of Youths Award 2025. The forthcoming gathering at Librería Fayad Jamís forms part of El elogio oportuno’s tenth-anniversary season, a forum that over the years has provided a platform for reflection on Cuban letters.
Organisers say the event aims both to pay tribute to a writer of long-standing influence and to bring her work to new readers through the newly available digital edition of Casas del Vedado. The combination of critical commentary and live music is intended to create an accessible celebration of Llana’s achievement and to highlight the continuing relevance of her work in contemporary Cuban literary life.
For many in Cuba and among Spanish-language readers, María Elena Llana remains a reference point for a strain of fiction that balances imagination with social observation. The January gathering offers an opportunity to revisit a career that has left a clear mark on the island’s cultural history and to reaffirm the place of her work in ongoing discussions about narrative innovation.
Key Takeaways:
- María Elena Llana is celebrated at Librería Fayad Jamís in Havana on 8 January to mark her 90th birthday.
- The event features talks by Zaida Capote Cruz and Jorge Ángel Hernández Pérez and a digital reissue of Casas del Vedado.
- Llana, winner of the National Literature Prize 2023, has shaped Cuban fantastic fiction across six decades.
