Guirao, Ramón (1908–1949)
Guirao, Ramón (1908–1949)
Ramón Guirao (b. 1908; d. 17 March 1949), Cuban poet. A founding member of the Sociedad de Estudios Afrocubanos, Guirao first gained national attention with his poem "La bailadora de rumba," which appeared in the literary supplement of Havana's Diario de la Marina in 1928. From 1933 to 1940 he lived in Mexico, where he worked as a journalist. In 1937 he gained recognition for an essay on Cuba, which he presented to the secretary of education. He was the editor of the journal Grafos. Guirao played an instrumental role in the development of literature devoted to Afro-Cuban themes, as exemplified by such works as "Poetas negros y mestizos de la época esclavista," which appeared in Bohemia in 1934. He worked until the end of his life editing Advance y Alerta, and contributed to several other literary journals.
See alsoJournalism; Literature: Spanish America.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pedro Barreda, The Black Protagonist in the Cuban Novel (1979), pp. 15, 27, and 29; Diccionario de la Literatura Cubana, vol. 1, edited by Marina García (1980), p. 416.
William Luis, Literary Bondage (1990), pp. 7 and 178.
Additional Bibliography
González-Pérez, Armando. Acercamiento a la literatura afrocubana: Ensayos de interpretación. Miami: Ediciones Universal, 1994.
Mullen, Edward J. Afro-Cuban Literature: Critical Junctures. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998.
Michael A. Polushin