PEDRO PEREZ SARDUY BIO

Pedro Pérez-Sarduy  (1943) is an Afro-Cuban poet, writer, journalist , broadcaster and Cuba consultant  resident in London --he worked in Cuba for national radio  (1965-79) and for the Latin American Section of the BBC World Service (1981-1994). 

He is the author of Surrealidad (Cuadernos UNION, Havana 1967) ; Cumbite and Other Poems -bilingual edition by Center for Cuban Studies, New York, 1990 and the original Spanish-language by Ediciones Union, Havana, 1987- and more recently,  he published Melecón Sigloveinte, his latest poetry collection by Editorial Letras Cubanas, La Habana (2005); his poetry work can be found also in The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse (2005). 

Pérez-Sarduy is co-editor of AFRO-CUBA: An Anthology of Cuban Writing on Race, Politics and Culture (Ocean Press/Latin America Bureau, Melbourne/London, 1993 -the original Spanish version was published in 1998 by Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan- ; and co-author of the Introduction to No Longer Invisible/Afro-Latin Americans Today (London 1995). He has completed Journal in Babylon, a series of chronicles on Britain and published his first novel, Las Criadas de La Habana (The Maids of Havana) Editorial Plaza Mayor, Puerto Rico 2001, and by Editorial Letras Cubanas (Havana 2003) and co-authored Afrocuban Voices: On Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba, a book based on interviews with  Afro-Cubans currently living and working in the island and discusing race issues (University Press of Florida, Spring 2000). 

The recipient of several literary awards, he was (Ford Foundation) Writer in Residence at Columbia University, New York (1989);  CUNY Caribbean Exchange Program, Hunter College (1990); Rockefeller Visiting Scholar at the University of Florida, Gainesville (1993) and Rockefeller Fellowship Caribbean 2000 Program, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (1997). Also, a Charles McGill Fellow Visiting Lecturer  at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut,  (Fall 2004). He is Associate Fellow of the Caribbean Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University.