Mayra Montero
Encyclopedia
Biography
Montero was born in HavanaHavana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in 1952. She is the daughter of Manuel Montero, a very successful Cuban comedic writer and actor who made his career in both Cuba and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, 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
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally....
to describe his homeland and all things Cuban.
Mayra has lived in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
since the mid 1960s. She studied journalism in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and worked for many years as a correspondent in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. In the 1980's she was an editorial page editor for the now defunct El Mundo
El Mundo (Puerto Rico)
-History:El Mundo was founded in 1919 by Romualdo Real.In 1929, former corrector-turned-administrator Angel Ramos and journalist José Coll Vidal, bought the newspaper when Real retired. In 1946 Ramos was the sole owner of the newspaper.-Acquisitions:...
daily newspaper, at the time Puerto Rico's newspaper of record. She is presently a highly acclaimed journalist in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and writes a weekly column "Antes que llegue el lunes" (Before Monday arrives) in El Nuevo Dia
El Nuevo Día
El Nuevo Día is a Puerto Rican newspaper based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and distributed daily throughout Puerto Rico and some parts of the United States.- History :...
newspaper.
She is currently fighting cancer but continues an active professional life.
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 GrossmanEdith Grossman
Edith Grossman is an award-winning American translator specializing in English versions of Spanish language books. She is one of the most important translators of Latin American fiction in the past century, translating the works of Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel laureate Gabriel García...
, 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
Albert Anastasia
Albert Anastasia was boss of what is now called the Gambino crime family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...
at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York in the year 1957.
Political Activism
In 2006, signed a petition in support of the independence of Puerto RicoPuerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
from the United States of America.
Works
- Son de Almendra, 2005
- El capitán de los dormidos, 2002
- Vana ilusión, 2002
- Púrpura profundo, 2000
- Como un mensajero tuyo, 1998 (The messenger)
- Tú, la oscuridad, 1995 (In the Palm of Darkness)
- Del rojo de su sombra, 1993 (The red of your shadow)
- La última noche que pasé contigo, 1991 (Last night I spend with you)
- La trenza de la hermosa Luna, 1987
- Veintitrés y una tortuga (Twenty-Three and a Turtle)