Cuban writers past and present

To read Cuban writer Leonardo Padura's top 10 Cuban novels (The Guardian, 2 March 2009), please click here.

Here is a list of Cuban writers, past and present, including novelists, poets, and critics:

• Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990), openly gay poet, novelist, and playwright, author of Antes que anochezca
• Silvestre de Balboa y Troya de Quesada, (1563-1649), author of Espejo de Paciencia (1608), first known Cuban narrative poem
• Miguel Barnet, anthropologist and testimonialist
• Antonio Benitez-Rojo (1931-), author and critic
• Pedro Luis Boitel (1931-1972), poet and dissident
• Mariano Brull (1891-1956), postmodern poet
• Lydia Cabrera (1899-1991), anthropologist and poet
• Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1929-2005), novelist, author of Tres tristes tigres
• Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980), novelist, author of El reino de este mundo
• Julián del Casal, 19th century poet
• Ernesto Juan Castellanos (1963-), English translator, journalist, and author of Los Beatles en Cuba: Un viaje mágico y misterioso , El sargento Pimienta vino a Cuba en un submarino amarillo , La guerra se acaba - si tú quieres, and John Lennon en La Habana with a little help from my friends
• Daína Chaviano, novelist and short-story writer
• Enrique Cirules (1938- ), novelist and essayist, author of El Imperio de La Habana
• Edmundo Desnoes, novelist, author of Memorias del Subdesarrollo
• Jesús Díaz (1941-2002), novelist, filmmaker, and intellectual, founder of the influential cultural magazine Encuentro
• Eliseo Diego (1920-1996), poet
• Eliseo Alberto Diego, novelist, son of Eliseo Diego (above)
• Norberto Fuentes (1943-), author and journalist
• Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda (1814-1873), novelist, playwright, and poet, author of Sab (1842) and Baltasar (1858)
• Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989), Afro-Cuban poet
• Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (1950-) "dirty realist" novelist, poet, and painter
• José María Heredia y Heredia (1803-1839), poet
• Carilda Oliver Labra (1924-), poet
• José Lezama Lima (1910-1976), novelist and poet, author of Paraíso
• Dulce María Loynaz (1902-1997), poet
• Roberto Manzano (1949-) poet
• José Martí (1853-1895), poet, journalist, critic, translator, and patriot
• Nancy Morejón (1944-), Afro-Cuban poet
• Juan Cristobal Napoles Fajardo (1829-1862), writer of Siboneyista poetry
• Heberto Padilla (1932-2000), poet
• Leonardo Padura Fuentes (1955-), novelist and journalist
• Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979), author, playwright, poet, short-story writer and essayist
• Caridad Piñeiro (1958 - ), author of paranormals, romances and women's fiction
• José Ignacio Rivero (1920-), exiled journalist
• Raúl Rivero (1945-), dissident poet and journalist
• Severo Sarduy (1937-1993), neobaroque poet
• Ana María Simo, playwright, essayist and lesbian activist.
• Gabriel de la Concepción Valdez (1809-1844), soldier and poet, author of "Plegaria a Dios"
• Zoé Valdés (1959-), novelist
• Amir Valle (1967- ), journalist and novelist
• Cirilio Villaverde, novelist, author of Cecilia Valdes (1882)
• Héctor Zumbado, writer, journalist, humorist, and critic