Ediciones Matanzas Reissues Centenary Book «La Zafra» by Agustín Acosta
The third edition in Cuba of the famous poetry collection La zafra (The Sugar Harvest) by the National Poet, Matanzas native Agustín Acosta, published by the Matanzas publishing house, is inserted into the days for the centenary of the publication and on the occasion of celebrating the 140th anniversary of the author’s birth.
For the commemorations, from the 10th to the 12th of this month, the territories of Matanzas and Jagüey Grande join in a program of activities that contemplates colloquiums, book presentations, and the awarding of a contest inspired by the edition of the poems that addressed the realities of the sugar industry and the country in the first decades of the 20th century — works relevant to national culture.
The organizing committee is made up of representatives of the Provincial Book and Literature Center and the Provincial Council of Performing Arts, together with the municipal directorates of Culture of both territories.
Who was the writer Agustín Acosta Bello and why is his poetic work transcendent?
This Matanzas lyric poet, born on November 12, 1886, in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood, was the first representative of Cuban social poetry.
A graduate in Law and Public Notary, he practiced his profession successfully in Jagüey Grande for many years, where he also married. He is considered one of the symbols of Cuban culture of the past century.
From 1938 he was a member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, of the prestigious Cuban Academy of the Language, and his appointment as National Poet occurred in 1955 by decision of the Cuban Parliament.
Precisely, his poetry collection La zafra constituted a milestone for qualifying him as «precursor of social poetry in Cuba,» because in many of his poems he knew how to express his love for the Cuban land and what was happening in the pseudo-republican society.
He published eight poetry collections in our country and three in exile, when already elderly he emigrated to Florida under the care of his daughter.
Critics and historians note that Agustín Acosta, upon dying on March 12, 1979, left for posterity his poems full of reasons and passion, as absolute owner of a literary work of authentic Cubanness.
