Nancy Morejón
Nancy Morejón (born August 7, 1944 in Havana) is a Cuban poet, critic, teacher, and essayist. She was a recipient of the Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Award and has been called "the best known and most widely translated woman poet of post-revolutionary Cuba".
Also recorded as Nancy Morejon
Nancy Morejón
- Name
- Nancy Morejón
- Born
- 7 August 1944
- Birthplace
- Havana, Cuba
- Occupation
- * Poet
- Awards
- Struga Golden Wreath laureate
- Nationality
- Cuba
- Education
- University of Havana
- Honours
- Golden Wreath · National Prize for Literature · honorary doctor of the Cergy-Pontoise University
- Languages
- Spanish
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Nancy Morejón. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2671114 · wikipedia · Nancy Morejón
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
Statements marked “Documentary record” are set in the article beside the passage they confirm. Each is read from the authority records of the institutions named here; select “Prove” to see the record it was read from, where in that record, and when.
Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Nancy Morejón • Born — 7 August 1944 • Birthplace — Havana, Cuba • Occupation — * Poet • translator • Language — Spanish • Awards — Struga Golden Wreath laureate
Documentary record
Nancy Morejón (born 7 August 1944) is described as a writer, literary scholar and translator in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. The birth of Nancy Morejón is recorded on 7 August 1944 in Havanna.
Early life
Early life
She was born and raised in a district of old Havana to working-class parents, Angélica Hernández Domínguez and Felipe Morejón Noyola. Her parents were both of African heritage. Although her mother was Catholic, Nancy Morejón describes her family as nonreligious. Though religious images could be found in her home, Morejón only went to church with her mother until she was six or seven years old. She began writing about her thoughts and surroundings at the age of nine, which later evolved into poetry with the encouragement of Prof. Elena López in 1959. The Cuban Revolution ended that very same year, to which Morejón credits her opportunity to attend university despite her socioeconomic status.
Education and career
Education and career
Nancy Morejón is fluent in French and English. Before she got her high school degree in 1961, Morejón taught English, and she taught French before getting her college degree. In 1966, she graduated with honours from the University of Havana, the first Afro-Cuban to do so, having studied Caribbean and French literature. She is a well-regarded translator of French and English into Spanish, particularly Caribbean writers including Edouard Glissant, Jacques Roumain, Aimé Césaire and René Depestre. She has lectured at universities throughout the country and has taught at Wellesley College and the University of Missouri, which, in 1995, conducted a two-day symposium on her work and published the papers in a special issue of the Afro-Hispanic Review. Morejón, as of 2013, is director of Revista Union, the journal of the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba; UNEAC); in 2008, she was elected president of the writer's section of UNEAC.
Relationship with Nicolás Guillén
Relationship with Nicolás Guillén
From the early 1970s until the early ‘80s, Nancy Morejón worked on Nación y mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén under the supervision of Mario Benedetti and Roberto Fernández Retamar, who requested that she her to analyze Guillén’s work. In the text, she contextualized Nicolás Guillén’s work as she delivered a critique of it, bringing up race, nation, and culture in Cuba before and after the Cuban Revolution. Although Guillén was much older, Morejón describes him as a very close friend with whom she shared interests such as literature and sports. According to Abilio Estévez, a well- known Cuban, Nicolás Guillén greatly supported her. He included a tribute to her in one of his pieces called La rueda dentada.
Literary analysis
Literary analysis
Morejón's work explores a range of topics, such as the mythology of the Cuban nation and the relation of the Black people of Cuba within that nation. Her work treats political themes as well as intimate, familial topics. She often expresses an integrationist stance, in which Spanish and African cultures fuse to make a new Cuban identity. Much of her work—and the fact that she has been successful within the Cuban regime—locates her as a supporter of Cuban nationalism and the Cuban Revolution. Her work also treats slavery as an ancestral experience. Critics have noted her playful observations about her own people, her effective use of particularly Cuban forms of humor, and her regular "indulgence" in highly lyrical, intimate, spiritual, or erotic poetry. Through her poetry, Morejón brings forward less known history.She also integrates elements of Yoruba and other African spiritualities into her writing, reflecting Cuba’s religious landscape.
Representation of women
Representation of women
Morejón also weaved feminist ideals into some of her poems. Despite feminist ideology not being the catalyst for their creation, those poems are some of her most well known and they break away from the usual portrayal in literature of Afro-Hispanic women as sensual. In addition, she also voices the situation of women within her society, expressing concern for women's experience and for racial equality within the Cuban Revolution; often, black women are the protagonists in her poems, most notably in the widely anthologized Mujer Negra (Black Woman).
Identity
Identity
Nancy Morejón is recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded as a citizen of Cuba.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1944
Nancy Morejón was born on 7 August 1944.
Influence of Communism
Like other Cuban writers of her time, Nancy Morejón’s poetry began incorporating political issues after the Cuban Revolution without making it outright propaganda. Morejón was fourteen years old when the Cuban Revolution ended. Although the revolution allowed her to further her education, she did not use her works as propaganda for the revolution’s ideologies, as was common during the 60s and 70s in Cuba. Nevertheless, the imagery and references in some of her poems, such as the ones from Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos, demonstrate the influence of the revolution on her work. It was during the 70s and 80s that her poetry incorporated more political themes. Overall, her works reflected one of the goals of the revolution, which was to get rid of legal inequality.
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Nancy Morejón stands. Recorded as having received Golden Wreath, National Prize for Literature and honorary doctor of the Cergy-Pontoise University. Recognition and collections. Morejón received Golden Wreath, National Prize for Literature and honorary doctor of the Cergy-Pontoise University.
Writing and awards
She has produced a number of journalistic, critical, and dramatic works. One of them is her book-length treatment of poet Nicolás Guillén. In 1982, she was awarded the Cuban "Premio de la Crítica" (Critic's Prize) for Piedra Pulida, and in 2001, she won Cuba's National Prize for Literature, awarded for the first time to a black woman. This national prize for literature was created in 1983; Nicolás Guillén was the first to receive it. She also won the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings for 2006. She has toured extensively in the United States and in other countries. Morejón's poetry has been translated into English, German, French, Portuguese, Galician, Russian, Macedonian, and other languages, and is included in the 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby. In 1999, Howard University Press in Washington, D.C., published in 1999, a collection of critical essays on her work: Singular Like a Bird: The Art of Nancy Morejon, compiled and prefaced by Miriam DeCosta-Willis, Ph.D. A collection of her poems entitled Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos (Richard brought his flute), edited by Mario Benedetti at Visor Books, was published in Madrid in the spring of 2005.
Selected bibliography
• Amor, ciudad atribuída, poemas. Habana: Ediciones El Puente, 1964 • Elogio de la danza. Mexico City: La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1982 • Elogio y paisaje. Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1996 • Fundación de la imagen. Habana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1988 • Grenada Notebook/Cuaderno de Granada. Trans. Lisa Davis. New York: Círuculo de Cultura Cubana, 1984 • Mutismos. Habana: Ediciones El Puente, 1962 • Nación y mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén. Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1982 • Octubre imprescindible. Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1982 • Paisaje célebre. Caracas: Fundarte, Alcaldía de Caracas, 1993 • Parajes de una época. Habana: Editorial Letras Caubanas, 1979 • Piedra pulida. Habana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1986 • Poemas. Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1980 • Poetas del mundo Latino en Tlaxcala. Tlaxcala: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, 1988 • Recopilación de textos sobre Nicolás Guillén, ed. Habana Casa de las Américas, 1974 • Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos. Habana: Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1967 • Where the Island Sleeps Like a Wing. Trans. Kathleen Weaver. San Francisco: The Black Scholar Press, 1985 • Mirar Adentro/Looking Within: Selected Poems, 1954-2000 (bilingual edition, African American Life Series). Ed. Juanamaria Cordones-Cook. Wayne State University Press, 2002, • With Eyes and Soul: Images of Cuba. Trans. Pamela Carmell and David Frye. White Pine Press, 2004, • Monographs: • "A un muchacho," "Niña que lee en Estelí", "Soldado y yo". Toulouse: Caravelle, 1982 • Baladas para un sueño. Habana: Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1989 • Le Chaînon Poétique (in French). Trans. Sandra Monet-Descombey. Champigny-sur-Marne, France: Edition L. C. J., 1994 • Cuaderno de Granada. Habana: Casa de las Américas, 1984 • Dos poemas de Nancy Morejón. Drawings and design by Rolando Estévez. Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 1989 • Lengua de pájaro. With Carmen Gonce. Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro, 1971 • Poemas de amor y de muerte. Toulouse: Caravelle, 1993 • Ours the Earth. Trans. J. R. Pereira. Mona, Jamaica: Institute of Caribbean Studies, 1990 • El río de Martín Pérez y otros poemas. Drawings and design by Rolando Estévez. Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 1996
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Nancy Morejón, revision 1371376035 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Weaver, Kathleen. And Then There Was a Revolution – An Interview with Nancy Morejón. Poetry Flash. November 2016.
- 2.Nancy Morejon, National Poet. Cuba50. 3 December 2018.
- 3.Edison, Thomas Wayne. "Nancy Morejon Discusses Race and Culture." Afro-Hispanic Review 38 (2019): 224+. Gale Literature Resource Center; Gale.
- 4.Pérez-Rosario, Vanessa. Mas yo resto: Entrevista con Nancy Morejón. Small Axe. 25. 2. 142–150. 2021. 1534-6714.
- 5.Weaver, Kathleen. And Then There Was a Revolution – An Interview with Nancy Morejón. Poetry Flash. November 2016.
- 6.Paravisini-Gebert, Lizabeth. "Women Writers of the Caribbean." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Ed. Colin A. Palmer. 2nd ed. ed. 5 Vol. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. 2322–2327. Gale eBooks; Gale.
- 7.Pérez-Rosario, Vanessa. Mas yo resto: Entrevista con Nancy Morejón. Small Axe. 25. 2. 142–150. 2021. 1534-6714.
- 8.Gallardo Saborido, Emilio. "Los Pasados Distantes De Abilio Estévez: Entrevista Con La Sagrada Familia De Fondo." Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura 31 (2016): 170+. Gale Literature Resource Center; Gale.
- 9.Kutzinski, Vera M. "Guillén, Nicolás (1902- )." Latin American Writers. Ed. Carlos A. Solé. 2 Vol. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1989. 947–955. Gale Literature: Scribner Writer Series; Gale.
- 10.Williams, Lorna V. The Revolutionary Feminism of Nancy Morejón. CLA Journal. 39. 4. 432–453. 1996. 0007-8549.
- 11.Williams, C. Rose-Green. Rewriting the History of the Afro—Cuban Woman: Nancy Morejon's "Black Woman". Caribbean Quarterly. 34. 1/2. 10–18. 1988. 0008-6495.
- 12.Chíchester, Ana Garcia. "Nancy Morejon." Modern Spanish American Poets: First Series. Ed. Maria Antonia Salgado. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2003. Gale Literature Resource Center; Gale.
- 13.Looking Within / Mirar adentro: Selected Poems / Poemas escogidos. 1954–2000. Bilingual Edition. Edited and with an introduction by Juanamaría Cordones-Cook. Translations by Gabriel Abudu, David Frye, Nancy Abraham Hall, Mirta Quintanales, Heather Rosario Sievert, and Kathleen Weaver. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003 (African American Life Series). 367 pp. (hbk); (pb).
Bibliography printed in the source article · 27
- Amor, ciudad atribuída, poemas. Habana: Ediciones El Puente, 1964
- Elogio de la danza. Mexico City: La Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1982
- Elogio y paisaje. Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1996
- Fundación de la imagen. Habana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1988
- Grenada Notebook/Cuaderno de Granada. Trans. Lisa Davis. New York: Círuculo de Cultura Cubana, 1984 Looking Within / Mirar adentro: Selected Poems / Poemas escogidos. 1954–2000. Bilingual Edition. Edited and with an introduction by Juanamaría Cordones-Cook. Translations by Gabriel Abudu, David Frye, Nancy Abraham Hall, Mirta Quintanales, Heather Rosario Sievert, and Kathleen Weaver. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003 (African American Life Series). 367 pp. (hbk); (pb).
- Mutismos. Habana: Ediciones El Puente, 1962
- Nación y mestizaje en Nicolás Guillén. Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1982
- Octubre imprescindible. Habana: Ediciones Unión, 1982
- Paisaje célebre. Caracas: Fundarte, Alcaldía de Caracas, 1993
- Parajes de una época. Habana: Editorial Letras Caubanas, 1979
- Piedra pulida. Habana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1986
- Poemas. Mexico City: Universidad Autónoma de México, 1980
- Poetas del mundo Latino en Tlaxcala. Tlaxcala: Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, 1988
- Recopilación de textos sobre Nicolás Guillén, ed. Habana Casa de las Américas, 1974
- Richard trajo su flauta y otros argumentos. Habana: Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1967
- Where the Island Sleeps Like a Wing. Trans. Kathleen Weaver. San Francisco: The Black Scholar Press, 1985
- Mirar Adentro/Looking Within: Selected Poems, 1954-2000 (bilingual edition, African American Life Series). Ed. Juanamaria Cordones-Cook. Wayne State University Press, 2002,
- With Eyes and Soul: Images of Cuba. Trans. Pamela Carmell and David Frye. White Pine Press, 2004,
- "A un muchacho," "Niña que lee en Estelí", "Soldado y yo". Toulouse: Caravelle, 1982
- Baladas para un sueño. Habana: Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, 1989
- Le Chaînon Poétique (in French). Trans. Sandra Monet-Descombey. Champigny-sur-Marne, France: Edition L. C. J., 1994
- Cuaderno de Granada. Habana: Casa de las Américas, 1984
- Dos poemas de Nancy Morejón. Drawings and design by Rolando Estévez. Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 1989
- Lengua de pájaro. With Carmen Gonce. Habana: Instituto Cubano del Libro, 1971
- Poemas de amor y de muerte. Toulouse: Caravelle, 1993
- Ours the Earth. Trans. J. R. Pereira. Mona, Jamaica: Institute of Caribbean Studies, 1990
- El río de Martín Pérez y otros poemas. Drawings and design by Rolando Estévez. Matanzas, Cuba: Ediciones Vigía, 1996
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- University of HavanaOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Nancy HustonAuthor
- Nancy K. PearsonAuthor
- Nancy LagomarsinoAuthor
- Nancy MitfordAuthor
- Nancy PriceAuthor
- Nancy Vieira CoutoAuthor
- Nancy-Gay RotsteinAuthor
- Nand Kishore AcharyaAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Nancy Morejón?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.