Daína Chaviano

Daína Chaviano studied at University of Havana. The recorded working language is Spanish. Residence is recorded at Spain. Works named in the authority record are The Island of Eternal Love and Historias de hadas para adultos. Distinctions recorded are Anna Seghers Prize, Premio Azorín and Premio Nacional Malinalli.

• Name — Daína Chaviano • Born — 19 February 1957 • Birthplace — Havana, Cuba • Citizenship — * Cuban • American • Occupation — Novelist • Language — Spanish • Genre — Fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction • Notable Works — The Island of Eternal Love • Relatives — César Évora (cousin) • Website — http: www.dainachaviano.com

She was born in Havana, the eldest of four children of an economist father, and a mother with two Ph.D.: one in Philosophy and Letters, and the other in Psychology. When she had barely begun her university studies, she won the first science fiction competition ever organized in Cuba with her short story collection Los mundos que amo (The Worlds I Love), in 1979. After the book was published (1980), the main story was adapted and published as a photonovel in 1982, selling 200,000 copies in 3 months, an unprecedented fact that started her popularity as an author. The plot – almost the same in the short story and its photonovel version – has been considered "an editorial phenomenon" that "questioned the hierarchical structures that the governing institutions of the revolutionary culture imposed in the literary field as early as 1960". This sales record "broke with an editorial logic that considered science fiction as a minor genre." After earning a bachelor's degree in English Language and Literature at the University of Havana, she established the first science fiction literary workshop in her country, which she named “Oscar Hurtado” in honor of the father of that genre on the Caribbean island. In 1991, she left Cuba, establishing residency in the United States, where she worked as a translator, columnist, and editor. In 1998, she achieved international recognition when she was awarded the Azorín Prize for Best Novel in Spain for El hombre, la hembra y el hambre. This work forms part of her series «The Occult Side of Havana», together with Casa de juegos, Gata encerrada, and La isla de los amores infinitos (The Island of Eternal Love, Riverhead Books, 2008). The series has been described as “the most coherent novelistic project of its generation, indispensable for understanding the social psychology and spiritual vicissitudes of the Cuban people.” The Island of Eternal Love has been published in 26 languages, making it the most widely translated Cuban novel of all time. In 2007, the novel was awarded the gold medal at the Florida Book Awards, in the category Best Book in Spanish Language. In 2004, she was the guest of honor at the 25th International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) in the United States. It was the first time that honor had ever been conferred on a Spanish-language writer. In November 2014, she was the guest of honor during the University Book Fair in Tabasco (Mexico), where she received the Malinalli National Award for the Promotion of Arts, Human Rights, and Cultural Diversity, which until then had only received figures of Mexican culture and society. It was the first time this award was given to an international figure. Her short story collection, Extraños Testimonios, was published in 2017. In an interview, Chaviano classified the genre of this work as "Caribbean Gothic", as it brings together "elements of horror, absurdity, eroticism, and a certain dose of humor à la Cortázar, amidst tropical and sunny environments, specifically in the Caribbean." In 2019, her historical thriller Los Hijos de la Diosa Huracán was published by Grijalbo, the Spanish imprint of Penguin Random House. The novel, which required more than a decade of research work, recreates and rescues the Taínos' world, following the trail and paying homage to the legacy of the main Caribbean indigenous culture. Hence the importance of Taino mythology in the novel, especially the symbolism of their three main goddesses: Atabey, Guabancex, and Iguanaboína. In 2020, the novel was awarded the gold medal at the Florida Book Awards 2019 contest, in the category Best Book in Spanish Language, making Chaviano the only writer to twice receive the award in that category. Her País de Dragones, which was published in Colombia in 2021, won the Los Mejores de Banco del Libro, an award given to the best books for children and young people published in Spanish anywhere in the world. Chaviano has been a guest lecturer and visiting author at several universities and colleges, like Denison University (2007), Florida International University (2014), Miami Dade College (2016), and University of North Georgia (2017). She is a cousin of Cuban actor César Évora.

• 2019: "Dolores" (short story), trans. by Marilyn G. Miller, in Island in the Light / Isla en la luz (bilingüal anthology of literary works inspired by contemporary Cuban art), ed. by L. Padura, W. Guerra & C. Garaicoa. Miami: tra.Publishing. • 2017: "Accursed Lineage" (short story), trans. by Matthew David Goodwin, in Latin@ Rising: An Anthology of Latin@ Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. by Matthew David Goodwin. Texas: Wings Press. • 2008: The Island of Eternal Love (novel), trans. by Andrea Labinger. New York: Riverhead Books-Penguin Group. • 2003: "The Annunciation" (short story), trans. by Juan Carlos Toledano, in Andrea L. Bell & Yolanda Molina-Gavilán (eds), Cosmos Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain. Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. • 1994: "Memo for Freud" (poem), trans. by Heather Rosario-Dievert, in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling. New York: St. Martin's Press. • 1993: "Erotic I", "Memo for Freud", "Erotic IV" (poems), trans. by Heather Rosario-Sievert, in Pleasure in the Word: Erotic Writings by Latin American Women, ed. by Margarite Fernández Olmos & Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert. New York: White Pine Press.

• 2019: Los hijos de la Diosa Huracán. Grijalbo, Spain. • 2006: La isla de los amores infinitos. Grijalbo, Spain. • 2001: Gata encerrada. Planeta, Spain. • 1999: Casa de juegos. Planeta, Spain. • 1998: El hombre, la hembra y el hambre. Planeta, Spain. • 1988: Fábulas de una abuela extraterrestre. Letras Cubanas, Cuba.

• 2017: Extraños testimonios. Huso, Spain. (collection) • 2015: Un hada en el umbral de La Tierra. El Naranjo. Mexico. (novella) • 2004: Los mundos que amo. Alfaguara, Bogotá, Colombia. (novella) • 2001: País de dragones. Espasa Juvenil, Spain. (collection) • 1990: El abrevadero de los dinosaurios. Letras Cubanas, Cuba. (collection) • 1986: Historias de hadas para adultos. Letras Cubanas, Cuba. (collection) • 1983: Amoroso planeta. Letras Cubanas, Cuba. (collection) • 1980: Los mundos que amo. Ediciones Unión, Cuba. (collection)

• 1994: Confesiones eróticas y otros hechizos. Editorial Betania, Spain.

Daína Chaviano is recorded as having received Anna Seghers Prize, Premio Azorín and Premio Nacional Malinalli.