The 2001 National Literature Awardwinner, essayist, translator and journalist toured the United States, where she attended the Afro-Cuban Legacies International Conference at the University of Missouri, as well as other meetings in San Francisco (California) and in the coming days in New York.

“It is an immense honor for us to have her here,” Lianys Torres, head of the Cuban Mission in the United States, said when welcoming the renowned intellectual, “of whom we Cubans are very proud.”

Morejón, in turn, said that she felt moved by such a welcome. “I didn’t expect it,” she commented simply, reiterating that “you can always count on me.”

A poetic follower, and also an admirer, of Cuban National Poet Nicolás Guillén, Morejón has enriched the so-called black poetry, although her work goes further.

This is proved by her verses, in which she scrutinizes the daily life of her native Havana (August 7, 1944) and the revolutionary process in Cuba, without forgetting the fusion of poetry with other arts in her literary work. “My job is words. Words must be treated as if they were velvet,” the poet confessed in statements to Prensa Latina.

During the long conversation with this reporter, she dusted off memories, talked about the cultural ties between Cuba and the United States, reflected on happiness and even gave the scoop on her memoirs.

“Resist, continue to write and be in the fight for the creation of a better world against war, and even more so against predatory wars,” is what Morejón proposes. She also confirmed that “Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians is embarrassing.”

She is lover of blue, due to the sea that surrounds her, and of that “beautiful Cuba, whoever defends it, loves it more,” she emphasized.

Nancy Morejón’s work has been translated into English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Polish and Dutch and is especially known in the United States, where her literary work is highly appreciated.

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