The Cuban novelist, playwright, and poet Abilio Estévez was born in Havana in 1954. His first novel, Tuyo es el reino (Thine Is the Kingdom), published in 1997, was awarded the Cuban Critics’ Prize in 1999 and translated into twelve languages.
His other books include the novels Los palacios distantes (Distant Palaces), translated into ten languages and chosen by the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia as the best book of the year, and El navegante dormido (The sleeping navigator); the short-story collection El horizonte y otros regresos (The horizon and other returns); a collection of theatrical monologues, Ceremonias para actores desesperados (Ceremonies for desperate actors); and the prose volume Manual de las tentaciones (Manual of temptations), awarded the Luis Cernuda Prize in Seville and the Cuban Critics’ Prize in 1987. As a playwright, Estévez won the 1994 Tirso de Molina Award 1994 for La noche (The night). His most recent books are the novels El año del calipso (The year of calypso) and Archipiélagos (Archipelagos) and the essay collection Tan delicioso peligro (Such delectable peril). He lives in Palma de Mallorca, the Balearic Islands.
