WRITERS

VOICES – The breathtaking beauty of the poems of Costantino Kavafis

The beauty of his lyrics is amazing. Even with a few words he could summon a tumultuous world. Employed in his life in an Egyptian office, he secretly cultivated his love for poetry. His writing was ironic and totally disenchanted toward reality. His first collection of poems, many times epigraphic and essential, was published in 1935. The poetic production of …

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INTEREST IN ECOLOGY AND CULTURE – Kenneth Rexroth, promoter of the poetic Renaissance in San Francisco

Until the nineteenth century, this area was known as shelter of bandits hiding among woods and canyons. KENNETH REXROTH, born in 1905, was an American poet, translator and critical essayist and promoter of the poetic Renaissance in San Francisco. In the 1920s he settled in Chicago, where he held political activity and attended the bohemian intellectuals. He was among the …

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TORTILLA FLAT – Romance, by John Steinbeck

In 1962, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his realistic and imaginative scriptures, impregnated with acute social perception. JOHN STEINBECK, one of the most well-known US writers of the twentieth century, was born in Salinas (California) in 1902. Here, he spent serene childhood, developing a strong bond with the Salinas valley and the nearby Pacific coast, spending part …

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THE UNDERDOGS – Romance, by Mariano Azuela

He was born in 1873 in Lagos de Moreno (Jalisco). He had grown up in the small paternal farm, and this experience affected the settings of many of his tales. At the age of fourteen he entered a Catholic seminary, but soon abandoned religious studies. He studied medicine in Guadalajara, graduating in 1899. Military doctor in the revolutionary army, he …

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NOT FEAR – Poem, by Rafael Guillen

Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente (identified as Subcomandante Marcos) was born in Tampico in 1957. Like many of his generation, he was radicalized by the events of 1968, becoming militant in a Maoist organization. In 1981 he was one of the five students of the university department of letters and philosophy, who have received national medal of excellence. His famous political …

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TO LOVE, TO WONDER – The Poetry of Sitor Situmorang

During the Suharto regime, he, a Christian, for communion sympathies suffered eight years in prison. He is an Indonesian poet, essayist and writer of short stories. Born in North Tapanuli (north of Sumatra) in 1924, he belongs to the “Generation of the 45” (a group of artists, who matured during Japanese occupation and revolution, sharing the same existential rigor). All …

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EARTH DANCE – Novel, by Oka Rusmini

Her poems have been included (along with twelve other Balinese poets) in a book titled Bali Living in Two Worlds. OKA RUSMINI, born in 1967 in Jakarta, is a poet and novelist. She attends literary festivals both at home and abroad and has received numerous national awards. She currently lives in Denpasar (Bali), where she continues to use her writing …

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SORGERY – Poem, by Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn

JESSICA HAGEDORN has received scholarships, which have helped her write a novel, which illuminates many aspects of Filipino experience (focusing on American influence through radio, television, and theaters). After publication in 1990, the novel gained a nomination for the National Book Award 1990. She was born in Manila in 1949 (from Scottish-Irish-French-Filipino mother to Filipino-Spanish father with a Chinese ancestor), …

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NOLI ME TANGERE / TOUCH ME NOT – Novel, by José Rizal

It’s a novel written by José Rizal, born in Calamba in 1861, one of the national heroes of the Philippines, during the colonization of the country by Spain. His mother, one of the most educated women of the Philippines in her time, exerted a great influence on the intellectual development of her son, an early genius, who spanned in various …

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MISTAKEN – Poem by Vikram Seth

He has published six books of poetry and three novels. Traditions and rites, beliefs and aspects of everyday life are the expressive horizon within which he spends words. In addition to writing, he likes music. In fact, he plays flute and cello. Cosmopolitan and polyglot writer Vikram Seth, in his works transmits the influence of the trips and cultures with …

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