Cárdenas, Teresa 1970–

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Cárdenas, Teresa 1970–

(Teresa Cárdenas Angulo)

PERSONAL:

Born 1970, in Cárdenas, Matanzas, Cuba; children: one daughter.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Havana, Cuba.

CAREER:

Author. Has also worked as a dancer.

MEMBER:

National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Premio David, 1997, Hermanos Saiz Association Prize, 1997, National Critics Prize, 1998, and National Prize in Literary Criticism, 2000, all for Cartas al cielo; Ismaelillo Prize, National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, for Tatanene Cimarrón; La Edad de Oro Prize, 2000, for Cuentos de Macucupé; Casa de las Américas Prize for Perro Viejo.

WRITINGS:

FICTION; FOR YOUNG ADULTS

Cartas al cielo, [Cuba], 1998, published as Cartas a mi mamá, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006, translated by David Unger as Letters to My Mother, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

Perro Viejo, Fondo Editorial Casa de las Américas (Havana, Cuba), 2005, translated by David Unger as Old Dog, Groundwood Books (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Also author of Tatanene Cimarrón, Maldito Solar, and Cuentos de Macucupé. Contributor of poetry to anthologies.

SIDELIGHTS:

In her works, Cuban young-adult novelist Teresa Cárdenas confronts key issues facing the Caribbean nation today, especially the issue of race and race relations. Under the Communist government established by Fidel Castro, race issues were suppressed in the interests of Communist Party unity; but, with the weakening of the Castro regime, racial issues have begun to reemerge. Cuba was one of the last nations of the Western world to eliminate African slavery (the institution was finally outlawed in 1880), and racial prejudice and hatred still survive in the country. Cárdenas's Letters to My Mother and Old Dog evoke the world of Afro-Cuban slavery and its legacy.

Letters to My Mother (originally published in Cuba as Cartas al cielo and republished in 2006 as Cartas a mi mamá) tells the story of a young Afro-Cuban girl who deals with the losses and abuses of everyday life by composing missives to her dead mother. "Without being overly graphic, issues such as racism and discrimination, physical and sexual abuses, and prostitution, are dealt with deftly," explained Marilynne V. Black in CM Magazine. "The memories of her previously happy life, as illuminated in the opening excerpt, are in sharp contrast to her present circumstances. When her mother dies, her aunt and cousins grudgingly take her in. She suffers racial slurs and abuse from her relatives because of her mixed race and the perceived wrongs done by her mother." Even the girl's grandmother derides her, calling her names because of her African appearance.

At the same time that her own African identity is derided, the girl exists in an environment that is strongly Africanized. Her family understands the gods of Africa better than they do the Christian God, and they live in a world also inhabited by ghosts, curses, and witch doctors. "The author's modern Cuba," stated Donna Cardon in School Library Journal, "is a world in which Christianity and superstition, whites and blacks, love and infidelity coexist uneasily."

Despite the everyday cruelties from the people who ought to love and support her, the unnamed protagonist of Letters to My Mother grows in understanding and thrives. She begins to menstruate and to understand her body better. She discovers her aunt and her aunt's boyfriend having sex and comes to realize that the boyfriend has been sexually abusing her cousin, who has become seriously ill and is now paralyzed. She also befriends Roger, a white boy who is ashamed of his mother's prostitution. "As her self-knowledge deepens," explained a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, "the narrator grows to love her cousin …, and even forgives her grandmother for past cruelty."

Critics praised Letters to My Mother, which was awarded the David Prize, Hermanos Saiz Association Prize, and the National Critics Prize, following its original publication in Cuba. "The prose is stark," reviewer Hazel Rochman declared in Booklist, "but the story … will grab readers who can appreciate honesty about painful identity issues." The work, concluded Joanne de Groot in Resource Links, is "a sparsely written, but powerful, book that will provide young adult readers with much to think about in terms of life and love and the power of friendship and self-respect."

Old Dog (also published in Spanish as Perro Viejo), which was awarded the prestigious Casa de las Américas Prize, is the eponymous story of Perro Viejo, a former slave who has come to what he believes is the end of his long life. Having shut his heart to love long ago, he believes that he has nothing to live for—that is, until he encounters a reputed witch named Beira and Aisa, a ten-year-old runaway. The three decide to make a break for freedom—and, in the case of Perro Viejo himself, to finally take a chance on love. "This slender but powerful story …," Michael Cart stated in Booklist, "will invite classroom discussion among older readers."