Mayra Montero (born 1952) is a well-known Cuban-Puerto Rican writer.

Biography

Montero was born in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in 1952. She is the daughter of Manuel Montero, a Cuban comedic writer and actor who made his career in both Cuba and

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, where he and his family relocated when Mayra was a young girl. Manuel, whose pen name was "Membrillo", earned his greatest success playing "Ñico Fernández", a comedic character in Puerto Rican television. This character was a Cuban immigrant with a habit of using

hyperbole Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and cre ...

to describe his homeland and all things Cuban. Mayra has lived in

since the mid-1960s. She studied journalism in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

and worked for many years as a correspondent in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. In the 1980s she was an editorial page editor for the now defunct El Mundo daily newspaper, at the time Puerto Rico's newspaper of record. She is presently a journalist in

and writes a weekly column "Antes que llegue el lunes" (Before Monday arrives) in El Nuevo Dia newspaper.

Literary work

All of her books are written originally in Spanish and have been broadly translated to English and other languages. Montero's first book was a collection of short stories, ''Twenty-Three and a Turtle''. Her second book, a novel titled ''The Braid of the Beautiful Moon'', was a finalist for the Herralde awards, one of Europe's most prestigious literary awards. Each of her subsequent books—''The Last Night I Spent With You'', ''The Red of His Shadow'', ''In the Palm of Darkness'', and ''The Messenger''—has been published in the United States in translations by

Edith Grossman Edith Marion Grossman (née Dorph; March 22, 1936 – September 4, 2023) was an American literary translator. Known for her work translating Latin American literature, Latin American and Spanish literature to English, she translated the works o ...

, as well as in several European countries. The slim novel or novella, ''The Last Night I Spent With You'' is perhaps the most sexually explicit. Her other nonfiction work appears frequently in scholarly and literary publications throughout the world. Her most recent novel ''Son de Almendra'' is the product of an extensive research about the murder of the mafia leader

Albert Anastasia Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; né Anastasio ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, In ...

at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York in the year 1957.

Political activism

In 2006, she signed a petition in support of the independence of

from the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

Publications

*''La mitad de la noche'', 2019 *''El caballero de San Petersburgo'' (Spanish edition of ''El caballero de la flauta''), 2014 *''El caballero de la flauta'', 2011 *''Viaje a la isla de Mona'' (Trip to Mona Island), 2009 *''Son de Almendra'' (Dancing to "Almendra"), 2005 *''El capitán de los dormidos'' (Captain of the Sleepers), 2002 *''Vana ilusión'', 2002 *''Púrpura profundo'' (Deep Purple), 2000 *''Como un mensajero tuyo'' (The Messenger), 1998 *''Tú, la oscuridad'' (In the Palm of Darkness), 1995 *''Del rojo de su sombra'' (The Red of His Shadow), 1993 *''La última noche que pasé contigo'' (The Last Night I Spent with You), 1991 *''La trenza de la hermosa luna'', 1987 *''Veintitrés y una tortuga'' (Twenty-Three and a Turtle), 1981

External links

HarperCollins.com, Marya Montero

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montero, Mayra 1952 births Living people Writers from Havana Puerto Rican writers Cuban women writers