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Nicolás Guillén (10 July 1902 – 16 July 1989) was a Cuban poet. Born in Camagüey, Cuba. He studied law at the University La Habana, but soon switched to journalism. In his youth, he was active in politics and he joined the Communist Party in 1937. Consequently, he had to leave Cuba in 1953 and moved to France, but was welcomed back by Fidel Castro after the revolution and appointed president of the ´Unión Nacional de Escritores de Cuba´, the national union of writers of Cuba. He also wrote some evocative and poignant poetry highlighting social conditions, such as 'Problemas de Subdesarrollo' and 'Dos Ninos'.
Guillén is probably the best-known representative of the ´poesía negra´ (´black poetry´), that tried to create a synthesis between black and white cultural elements, the ´mestizaje´. Characteristic for his poems is the use of onomatopoetic words (´Sóngoro Cosongo´, ´Mayombe-bombe´) that try to imitate the sound of drums or the rhythm of the Son.
Other works
- Motivos de son (1930)
- Sóngoro Cosongo (1931)
- West Indies, Ltd. (1934)
- Cantos para soldados (1937)
- La paloma de vuelo popular: Elegías (1958)