Maria Elena Cruz Varela

As a poetess, Cruz Varela earned the highest honors in Cuba before being incarcerated in 1991 for her human rights activism. Since her exile in 1994, she has become a novelist, always blending everyday life with the texture of history as she did with Juana de arco (Planeta), winner of the 2003 Premio Alfonso X. Cruz Varela has also been a candidate for the Nobel prize and the Principe de Asturias.

As a poetess, Cruz Varela earned the highest honors in Cuba before being incarcerated in 1991 for her human rights activism. Since her exile in 1994, she has become a novelist, always blending everyday life with the texture of history as she did with Juana de arco (Planeta), winner of the 2003 Premio Alfonso X. Cruz Varela has also been a candidate for the Nobel prize and the Principe de Asturias. See less