Omar Pérez 
Author

Poems

Original

Übersetzung

Word spanish

Translations: de

to poem

Canción de cuna spanish

Translations: de

to poem

Cubanologìa spanish

Translations: de

to poem

Integridad d cartón spanish

Translations: de

to poem

Zarabanda spanish

Translations: de

to poem

El despelote spanish

Translations: de

to poem

Omar Pérez 
Author

photo © Heiko Strunk
* 19.02.1964, Havana, Cuba
lives in: Havana, Cuba

Omar Pérez López, born 1964 in Havana, studied and graduated in English language and literature at the University of Havana (1987), as well as in Italian language and culture at the Scuola per Stranieri di Siena (1991) and in Dutch language and social orientation at the Regional Teaching Centre of Amsterdam.
In addition to his work as a journalist (El Caimán Barbudo 1989-1990), editor (Letras Cubanas 1999), radio announcer (Radio Ciudad de la Habana, Radio Musical Nacional, Habana Radio and Radio Progreso), actor and theatre assistant (1996-97), he has worked as a percussionist with the companies Danza Combinatoria, Danza Abierta and Persona.He has lectured on poetry and translation at the universities of Havana, Buffalo, Milan, Leyden, Medellin and Iowa. Accompanied by his cajon, he has presented his poems as a soloist in Havana, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Cali, Dublin, New Orleans, Sao Paulo, New York and other places.

 photo © Heiko Strunk
His first volume of poetry "Algo de lo sagrado" ("Something Holy") appeared in 1996. In 1998 he published a book of poems entitled "Oíste hablar el gato de pelea? ("Did you hear the fighting cats talking?") the collected poems of the years 1994-98.
In the same year he learned - at the age of 25 - that he was the natural son of the revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who at that time had an extramarital relationship with the then student and later journalist Lilia Rosa López.

Further volumes of poetry and essays follow. His poems, essays and translations have also been published in several journals, including Mandorla, Poetry International, Prometheus, Action Poétique, Poetry and Criticism, The Infinite Island and Leviathan.
Pérez has been invited to the poetry festivals of Rotterdam (2002), Medellin (2006, 2015 and 2018) and Berlin (2019) as well as to the International Book Fair of Guadalajara (2002 and 2010). He has also taken part in the Poetry Festival in Taiwan in 2014, Singapore's Writers' Festival (2015) and the Festival Latinoamericano de Poesìa en el Centro, Buenos Aires, (2016), and the Seoul Literary Forum, 2017. 

Omar Pérez has also presented several translation volumes, including works by authors such as William Shakespeare and Dylan Thomas, as well as anthologies of North American poetry, English-speaking African poetry, and contemporary poetry from Italy and the Netherlands.

Publications
  • Algo de lo sagrado

    Editorial Unión, 1996

  • Oíste hablar el gato de pelea?

    poemas 1994–98

    Letras Cubanas, 1999

  • Como les guste

    Versión de As You Like It de William Shakespeare

    traducción de Omar Pérez

    Buenos Aires: Editorial Norma, 1999

  • La perseverancia de un hombre oscuro

    ensayo

    2000

  • Canciones y Letanías

    Extramuros, 2002

  • Bueno y sin prisa

    Antología de Poesía Norteamericana

    traducción de Omar Pérez [reedición Arte y Literatura, 2011]

    Editorial Torre de Letras, 2005

  • Something of the Sacred

    traducción de Algo de lo sagrado, a cargo de Kristin Dykstra

    New York: Factory School, 2007

  • Y la muerte no tendrá dominio

    Poesía recogida de Dylan Thomas

    traducción de Omar Pérez

    Arte y Literatura, 2007

  • Lingua Franca

    Unión, 2009

  • La perseverancia de un hombre oscuro

    [colección de ensayos sobre poesía y traducción]

  • Crítica de la razón puta

    Letras Cubanas, 2010

  • Did you hear about the fighting cat?

    traducción de K. Dykstra

    UK: Shearsman,

  • Mágicos intervalos

    Poesía africana de lengua inglesa

    traducción de Omar Pérez

    Arte y Literatura, 2011

  • El corazón mediterráneo

    [colección de ensayos]

    2011

  • Lo antimelancólico

    Poesía italiana contemporánea

    traducción de Omar Pérez

    Arte y Literatura, 2012

  • Lo que es

    Poetas de la lengua neerlandesa

    traducción de Omar Pérez

    Arte y Literatura, 2013

  • Filantropical y Sobras Escogidas

    poemas

    Miami: Letras Cubanas y Silueta, 2016

  • Cubanology

    [diario de sus viajes por Europa]

    Barrytown: Station Hill Press, 2018

  • La carrera/The race

    traducidos por Kristin Dykstra

    Alabama University Press, 2018

Awards
  • 2010 Premio Nacional de Poesía Nicolás Guillén

  • 2000 Premio Nacional de la Crítica

Links