Bio

A writer with a degree in Social Communication from the University of Las Tunas. He has published the books Cuestión de origen (Matter of Origin) by El Taller Blanco Ediciones (Colombia, 2021) and El milenio del rumor (The Rumour Millennium) by Nueve Editores (Colombia, 2024). He is also the compiler and editorial curator of La Isla devorada: Antología de Cuento Breve Cubano Contemporáneo (The Devoured Island: Anthology of Contemporary Cuban Short Stories), co-published by Editorial Avatares and Nueve Editores (Colombia, 2023). His writings appear in anthologies, magazines and newspapers across Spain, Germany, France, Poland, Cuba, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico.

Project

In the 1970s, Cuba decided to provide military aid requested by António Agostinho Neto, the newly elected president of Angola. Thousands of Cuban men, instructors and regular troops, equipped with Soviet military gear, arrived in the sub-Saharan country to engage in combat. Lester Daniel Fernandez’s grandfather was among them. His mission, spanning 8 months, alongside a Cuban division, aimed to expel South African forces from the country. The author’s intent is to convey what his grandfather saw, felt and did, a story recounted to his grandson 30 years later with the deliberate pacing typical of elderly storytellers.