The famous tertulias of Carilda Oliver Labra.

This is how a Thursday came about, at Carilda’s request, since it was the day she liked to hold this meeting. That first one, on March 31st, 1987, was held on the occasion of Cuban Book Day.

People endowed with wisdom in the universe of intellectuality; people born near the hammer and the stove; locals, Cubans and foreigners from different parts of the world, have confessed that the gatherings of the poet Carilda Oliver Labra, in her house at Tirry 81 or in the ceremonial hall of the Palacio de Junco museum, were incomparable, to the point of not being matched, even when the versatile writer is not present.

In this arrival to the 102nd anniversary of her birth, her seductive power can be felt in the air of the city of Matanzas, the same one that made us wait with admiration and longing for her appearance on stage, because as a goddess of letters and charm, she arrived last, wrapped in the applause of her faithful followers.

And the round of verses and guests began, personalities of the arts, literature, science; historians of the city of rivers and bridges; music on the piano or guitar; the voices of the most important singers of the city.

In recent studies by researcher Olga Lida González, in the museum’s documentary collections, it was learned that the idea of the gathering in this emblematic place came from Urbano Martínez Carmenate, Raúl Ruiz and Gonzalo Domínguez, at the end of the 80’s of the last century, to achieve a unique space with the prestigious writer.

This is how a Thursday came about, at Carilda’s request, since it was the day she liked during the week to hold this meeting. In that first one, on March 31, 1987, on the occasion of the Cuban Book Day.

The guests were the poet and journalist Adolfo Suarez and his unconditional colleague Miguel Barnet, National Prize for Literature, a regular at Tirry 81 since the 70’s, who is considered the intellectual who has been present the longest in the gatherings of the author of Al sur de mi garganta.

…Guárdame el tiempo.

Guárdamelo.

Estoy segura de que puedes.

Así no ha de caer la luna

ni tendrás que morirte en la mañana

y el jueves será eterno

y te besaré siempre como el veinticuatro

de septiembre

de mil novecientos ochenta y uno.

Guárdame el tiempo,

guárdamelo…

¡Cuánto extrañamos esos encuentros literarios con la excepcional poeta!

Carilda, National Literature Award 1997, with her verses and emotions, symbolizes that little bird that warbles in the mornings waking up the sun in the bay; Carilda, with her verses of passion and dedication to the homeland, represents the ray of light that settles in the land of Matanzas, to illuminate the dark spaces and awaken feelings of love and hope in the hearts of the romantics.

Written by María Elena Bayón Mayor.