Daniel Cruz Bermúdez: this «is not the work of a single person».
He has been in charge of editing several texts, among them Las aguas y el espejo. Especulaciones sobre poesía, by Virgilio López Lemus, with which he was awarded the prize for the best book edition of the Territorial Publishers 2024 during the Book Fair in Holguín.
Ediciones Matanzas, in addition to being a renowned publishing house in the country, is an important publishing school. No wonder then that, as close as his work is to Aldabon’s, Daniel Cruz Bermudez has become a reaffirmation that «he who takes shelter under a good tree has a good shade».
The director of the publishing house of the Saiz Brothers Association in Matanzas has been in charge of the edition of several texts, among them Las aguas y el espejo. Especulaciones sobre poesía, by Virgilio López Lemus, with which he was awarded the prize for the best book edition of the 2024 territorial publishers during the Holguín Book Fair.
See also: https://www.ahora.cu/es/cultura/20965-daniel-cruz-bermudez-premio-a-la-mejor-edicion-de-libros-2024
«The edition was very complex because it was a collection that I always wanted to create in the publishing house on topics related to poetics. The text, besides belonging to a very important author of Cuban literature, such as Virgilio López Lemus, has many footnotes in 488 pages.
«There were many very important articles referring to poetics and I proposed a selection. I asked him to rewrite some of them because there were elements that did not reach the height of others and it was important that the book had the highest quality.»
See also: http://www.cubaliteraria.cu/las-aguas-y-el-espejo-en-el-sabado-del-libro/
An excellent interior design work, the good use of margins, the appropriate typography used, the successful cover design, as well as the careful editing of a well-written text determined the jury’s choice for this title.
The editing process was complex but very satisfactory, according to Cruz Bermúdez, because he was accompanied and supported at all times by the author of the book, which further enhanced the literary proposal, says the poet and cultural promoter.
«He made all the editing work viable. After I finished the table work with the complete revision of the text, we met several times in Havana, I shared with him the proposals and we worked on the book calmly. He was very receptive to the suggestions and proposals I made.
«It was beautiful because when I explained to Johann Enrique Trujillo what I wanted and he went to layout it, he quickly understood the collection I dreamed of. He made the beautiful cover of the book with Prometheus seen by Morón and that’s how the book turned out».
See also: http://www.ahs.cu/?p=25994
During its half a quarter of a century, Ediciones Aldabón has gained in maturity when it comes to conceiving its books. Although it is not the only one, this award reaffirms the quality of the proposals developed there and becomes recognition for its collective.
«This is an important award for my career as an editor because they are awarding a beautiful edition and the Matanzas school in that specialty has a very special taste for the book as an art object and that made me fall in love with it too. Every time I read a manuscript I try to see it as the work of art that it is. I have learned to imagine the book in physical form with Zaldívar and Johann.
«That is what we try to do with all the books and that this one has achieved it, that it has had that category of beauty and that the jury has considered it as a publishing jewel, gives me great joy, not so much for the ego of saying I have an award, but for the recognition of the work we do as a publishing house that grows every day a little more, despite the shortages and the scarcity of materials.»
The school of Ediciones Matanzas, with Alfredo Zaldívar at the helm, has served as a reference for Aldabón and Daniel, its director. The coincidences, but not imitations or dependencies, in the work of both provide them with elegance, peculiar styles, aesthetics that transcend the denomination of books and a coherence that the readers are grateful for.
«The presence of a publishing house like Matanzas very close to us is very good because I constantly drink from that editorial team, we do the activities together, Zaldívar is the president of Aldabón’s Advisory Council, the people who work with us are also related to Ediciones Matanzas.
«We work as a family, and at the same time it’s a challenge because you have to be up to the task, publish good books, make a correct editorial management because Matanzas Editions’ editorial management is impeccable and the Critics’ and Historical Critics’ Awards, Book Publishing, The Paper Door, the Reader’s Prize and others that they have deserved are proof of that.
«Without abandoning the perspective of young people because 90 percent of our catalog is made up of members of the AHS, we publish books like this one so that the established authors of Cuban literature can serve as a reference and benchmark.
Daniel Cruz Bermudez arrived in Matanzas 9 years ago. In love not only with the beauty of the city but also with the cultural movement that transcends from here, he found the right place to make his challenges come true as the excellent editor, poet and cultural promoter he is, at the head of one of the most solid publishing houses in the country today.
«I arrived in Matanzas in 2015 to stay forever. I have been very motivated by the community of writers it has, the editorial work, the interrelation between cultural institutions that make me feel protected.
«The constant dialogue and support with their representatives is fundamental when you don’t have budgets or other resources because when you think the plan will stop, you always find a light that paves the way. Aldabón is not the work of just one person, there are many social actors who are part of the achievements of our publishing house».
The waters and the mirror. Especulaciones sobre poesía was published in 2019. The volume is an essayistic compendium that gathers four books by the author: Narciso, las aguas y el espejo; Agua Tributaria, Gravitación de la poesía and Complexidad de la poesía that also reviews several literary, artistic and psychological interpretations made throughout history.
Written by Jessica Mesa.
