Omar Perez Author

Born in 1964 in Havana, Cuba, Omar Perez Lopez is a member of the first generation to live fully under the auspices of the island's post-1959 government: children raised to envision the present and future in socially experimental terms. His second poetry collection, Oiste hablar del gato de pelea?, or Did You Hear about the Fighting Cat?, offered a mature, yet unusual, response to that ongoing challenge. The book was originally published by Letras Cubanas in 1998. Perez' literary career ranges from poetry to essays and translations. His first book of poetry was the highly regarded Algo de lo sagrado (Havana: Union, 1996), reprinted in a bilingual edition from Factory School with translations by Kristin Dykstra (New York, 2007). He was awarded Cuba's Nicolas Guillen Prize for Poetry for Critica de la razon puta in late 2009, and early 2010 saw the release of his multilingual book of poems, Lingua Franca (Union).