The other coffee, a space for dialogue from the AHS in Matanzas.

Zaldívar Muñoa said that the next edition of El otro café will feature Náthaly Hernández Chávez as the main guest.

El otro café, a literary event created last January to promote the best of young art, with nods to the province’s already acclaimed writers, held its second edition on Tuesday at the Patio Colonial, headquarters of the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS), in Matanzas.

In the afternoon, the multi-awarded poet, storyteller, editor and journalist Pablo G. Lleonart, the main guest of the meeting, recalled significant moments in his short but fruitful career.

He told those present how he made the transition from studying engineering at the University to study journalism, recognizing in this a way to get closer to the cultural world of the city of Matanzas. He also referred to the influence his parents and some of his teachers had on his formation and vocation during the different stages of his studies.

During the interview, guided by the also journalist and renowned writer Náthaly Hernández Chávez, he explained the creative process of his three published books: Habitantes de Marte, winner of the Aldabón Prize; El rumor de un lejano galope de caballos, winner of the Mangle Rojo poetry prize in 2020 and Casa junto a las vías del tren, winner of the Milanés Prize 2023.

He also announced that he is working on the text that won the Juan Francisco Manzano creation scholarship of the Provincial Committee of the UNEAC in 2024, Cementerio de naves espaciales (Spaceships Cemetery).

Writer and editor Maylan Alvarez also attended the meeting as a guest, in an interesting and necessary effort by the host of the meeting, editor, poet and promoter Alfredo Zaldívar Muñoa, to bring together different generations: those who are now members of the AHS and those who have passed through it and are part of the country’s artistic avant-garde.

Maylan, who has published around a dozen books, commented on his experience during the years he belonged to the literature section of the AHS and described the Association as «an excellent start for any young person interested in artistic creation, not only in writing».

Both authors shared some of their poems: Pablo, his already anthological 1995 and Playstation sonnets, which recently won the Primavera poetic prize, while Maylan offered a selection of texts created at different moments of his work as a poet.

The other coffee reserved a moment for the promotion of the collections of Ediciones Aldabón, one of the five publishing houses of the AHS in the country, which will be 27 years old in 2025. On this occasion, its director, Daniel Cruz Bermúdez, promoted precisely the proposals of the bookstore La calle de Rimbaud, belonging to Ediciones Aldabón and specialized in books of this and Matanzas publishing houses.

The music of the space, which was exceptionally held on a Tuesday, was in charge of the duo Mestizaje and the group Son de la EPA, both integrated by students of the Professional School of Art of Matanzas. Zaldívar Muñoa said that the next edition of El otro café will feature Náthaly Hernández Chávez as the main guest.

Written by Jessica Mesa.