Leonardo Padura 24/04/08
An evening with Leonardo Padura
On 24 April, 2008, The IISC was host to the acclaimed Cuban author Leonardo Padura who presented his latest English language publication Havana Gold
Over 140 people, academics, students and Cubans, including the Cuban Ambassador, His Excellency Rene Mujica Cantelar, gathered in the prestigious Graduate Centre on Holloway Road to hear Padura talk on his work and cultural ife in Cuba today.
Padura is possibly Cuba's most internationally successful writers and is renowned for his contribution to the detective fiction genre. Two-time winner of Spain's Dashiell Hammett Prize for Best Literary Crime Novel, Padura's previous novels in the series, Havana Blue, Havana Red and Havana Black have already been published by Bitter Lemon.
The four novels are each set in a season of the momentous year of 1989 (when the Berlin Wall came down). Taken together they chart a year in the life of Detective Inspector Mario Conde, a luckless Havana policeman who is tryng to make sense of his own life as well as solve cases of corruption, vice and murder in a city that is becoming unrecognisable to him.
IISC assistant director Dr Stephen Wilkinson, an expert on Cuban crime fiction, opened the event and spoke of the way in which Padura's works are of universal value not merely as surrogate histories of a turning point in Cuba that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Leonardo Padura, via interpreter Peter Bush, who translated the novels, spoke frankly about the process of writing Havana Gold: "I have a very special place for this novel in my heart. It was the second in the series and the one that saved me from madness because it was written at the worst times in Cuba since the clolapse of the Soviet Union when there was no paper, nothing at all to publish with. By some miracle I was able to enter this novel for the Union of Writers prize, it won and they had managed to get some paper. So it was published and was the first of my novels to be released in my country."
Answering questions from the floor, Leonardo talked about the opening that had been made in Cuba society since the 1990s that had allowed for much greater artisitic expression. "Althought the collapse of the Soviet Union brought many bad things, it did allow one good thing to happen," he said: "It caused a gap to open up between the establisment and the creative community that the creative community was able to fill with more freedom.
"The ability for artists to be able to sell their work abroad has made a huge difference and unleased an enormous creativity."
He went on to stress the importance of the changes taking place in Cuba under Raúl Castro: "The artistic community is 100 per cent behind the transformations. I think that the situation is going to improve much more, there is no going back."
This event was recorded and a DVD is available. To obtain a copy please send a cheque for £5.00p made payable to 'London Metropolitan University', a return address and a note saying that you want the film of this event to the following address:
IISC
London Metropolitan University
31 Jewry St.,
London
EC3N 2EY
Havana Gold
Twenty-four year old Lissette Delgado was beaten, raped, and then strangled with a towel. Marijuana is found in her apartment and her wardrobe is suspiciously beyond the means of a high school teacher.
Lieutenant Conde is pressured by "the highest authority" to conclude this investigation quickly when chance leads him into the arms of a beautiful redhead, a saxophone player who shares his love for jazz and Japanese fighting fish.
This is a Havana of crumbling, grand buildings, secrets hidden behind faded doors and corruption. For an author living in Cuba, Padura is remarkably outspoken about the failings of the government. Yet this is a eulogy of Cuba, its life of music, sex and the great friendships of those who elected to stay and fight for survival.
More information:
The Hammet of Havana, The Guardian
Interview with Padura by Stephen Wilkinson
