^M00:00:00 >> From the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C. ^M00:00:05 ^M00:00:17 >> Marie Arana: Hi, Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Great to have you with us tonight. Welcome to the Library of Congress. Welcome to the kickoff of La voz latina, which is a series long in the making, I guess it was about a year ago, Alicia and Giorda, we were talking with the Kennedy Center and managed this wonderful collaboration between the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center. There Will be two more programs tomorrow night. I Will -- Sorry, Saturday, all day long, and I encourage you to go. The first program at eleven o'clock will be with Natasha Trethewey, the U.S. poet laureate, and Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas, who is a wonderful playwright, Cuban playwright, and they will present a program, a really wonderful program on the relationship and friendship between two great poets, Nicolás Guillén, of Cuba, and Langston Hughes, of the United States, who were great friends and wonderful poets, and translated one another. The other program is at two o'clock, and that would be a cavalcade of great Latin American and Latino American writers, and you can see in your program who they are, is a magnificent lineup [inaudible] which I encourage you to come on Saturday, eleven o'clock and two o'clock, and between those programs, Rolando Estévez, who you see here tonight, the great, wonderful master bookmaker that we are very lucky to have in the Library of Congress tonight will be presenting more of his books that are on their way, right now, from Habana, large scale material that he has brought as well. So, the display, if you've seen it, is absolutely marvelous, breathtaking work that he has produced over the years, and the display at the Kennedy Center will be an additional bonus. So, I would encourage you to go to that. We are very, very indebted to the extraordinary director of the international programing at the Kennedy Center, Alicia Adams, and ger fantastic dynamo colleague Giorda Almada. We are very proud of this collaboration between the Library and the Kennedy Center. I think it may be the - unprecedented, a first collaboration of this sort of scholarly material, we think so, and so we hope that it will be the first of many other collaborations in the future. So, I want to bring on Alicia to say a few words to you. Alicia Adams, as I say, is the director of the International Program in the Kennedy Center. It is through her that Washington audiences have been treated to authors from really all around the world, from China to Scandinavia, to Africa, to all the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking nations, the Middle East, India and many other fascinating places whose art we might not know but for her efforts and those of her colleagues, like Giorda, and the very efficient Ginger Rogers, thank you, Ginger. If you were to keep track of Alicia's productions, you could virtually tour the world and see artists and art forms that you hadn't imagined existed, from the comfort of your seat at the Kennedy Center. So I'd like to ask Alicia to come up and say a few words, if you would. ^M00:04:21 ^M00:04:23 Alicia Adams. ^M00:04:24 [ Aplausos ] ^M00:04:30 >> Alicia Adams: Thank you so much, Marie, that's quite an introduction. I don't know if I can live up to that right now, but [risa]. I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight to tonight's literary collaboration between the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress, La voz latina. I do carry the international festivals with the Kennedy Center and we just finished a major festival on Cuba called Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World. Literature has always been important to me, for all of the festivals, and I'm so pleased that tonight we begin an addition to the Cuba festival with writers from Cuba, but also that we will have other latino voices. So From the Island to the World comes alive for me and for us tonight. I'm thrilled that we are looking at another aspect of the book, the art of the book, with the work of Rolando Estévez. These handmade books are so beautiful and if you haven't had a look at the books that are in the other room, please, do so. The only time I've ever seen such beautiful handmade books is at the Booker Prize in London that I go to every year, every other year, and they always present to the five -- the five finalists a handmade book by an artist. So, they are always so beautiful. I'd just never seen so many beautiful books together. There are only five there. But I think that these books, these book covers, the books themselves, give us another entry into the story that will be told inside. It invites us in a very different way than a book that's printed by the printer. And that's something that I find very exciting. It's another aspect of the art that I think we should pay attention to. I'm so pleased that Ruth Behar and Marie Arana thought to have this as part of this collaboration and this literary event tonight. I have to say that this is the first time that we've collaborated with the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, but this is probably the fiftieth time that I've collaborated with Marie. I have followed her wherever she went, I met her probably over 20 years ago, and she is a writer extraordinaire when she was the book editor of The Post, she did a fantastic job, and here at the Library of Congress, with the National Book Fair it's extraordinary that we see thousands and thousands of people there. No matter what the title of the festival is, if I can find a way to involve Marie in it, I will, if only for advice, but many of them have included Latino artists or African artists or I've involved her sister, I believe so, it's been a great partnership and I love her, she is a dear friend, I'm so glad that she's been able to put together this series over the next few days. So thank you, thank you again for coming. ^M00:07:42 [ Aplausos ] ^M00:07:49 ^M00:07:51 >> Marie Arana: Oh, my goodness, I am glowing, thank you very much. Such a special friend, absolutely. Well, we have a very exciting program for you in store this evening. The participants, as you can see, have come from far and near to tell you about a singular, really truly singular art form that fuses a love of books with a love for art. We are very, very honored, deeply honored, profoundly honored to present Rolando Estévez, a poet, writer, producer, and master bookmaker whose handy work the Library of Congress has been collecting in its Rare Book Division for many, many years. Here to tell you about that collection, the Vigia Collection is my colleague, Catalina Gómez, who is sitting on the extreme far end, without whom this program and the two other programs that will take place at the Kennedy Center would not have been possible. Thank you, Catalina. Ruth will tell you more about Rolando and Catalina, but let me tell you a little bit about Ruth. Ruth, our moderator sitting in the middle this evening is a Cuban-American anthropologist and writer, a professor of cultural anthropology at the University of Michigan, her work straddles the worlds of the academy and popular books, she's written poetry, memoirs, literary fiction, books for children, she was born in Habana and came to live in the United States when she was five years old. Her family roots through her grandparents, however, go back to Turkey, Poland, and Russia. She learned very early on in her life that the world was a very large place. She credits her bookishness to the fact that when she was nine, going on ten, she spent an entire year in a body cast, at which point, Ruth, I guess you learned how to bring a large world into a very small place. In love with books, never without one in her hand, she studied Spanish Literature at Wesleyan, she learned her Doctor in Anthropology from Princeton. Her first book was based on her dissertation about a northern village in Spain. Her second book Translated Woman was based on ten years of field work in a rural town in Mexico. Her third The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology that Breaks your Heart, [ininteligible] with a great title, exams the role of the personal in her scholarly discipline, Cultural Anthropology. Jewish Cuba is the topic of her fourth An Island Called Home, as well as her fifth Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys. Most recently she's published a prize-winning book for young adults called Lucky Broken Girl, and I guess that's about the body cast, I would guess, and in fact it is, I've seen it. It's lovely. Congratulations. Just this week she was named one of America's great immigrants by the Carnegie Foundation. According to the Carnegie citation she is "one of America's naturalized citizens who enriched the fabric of our culture and strengthened our democracy through their lives, their work, and their example." We couldn't agree more. Ladies and gentlemen, Ruth Behar. ^M00:11:25 [ Aplausos ] ^M00:11:28 [ Ininteligible conversation ] ^M00:11:33 >> Ruth Behar: So I can talk from right here. >> Catalina Gómez: You have your microphone. >> Ruth Behar: 'Cause I have my microphone. Okay. Well, thank you so much. I was not expecting that introduction at all. Thank you so much. That was so beautiful, and I am so honored. Well, it's such a huge honor to be here today at the Library of Congress and also to have this collaboration with the Kennedy Center and to be un conversation with Catalina Gómez, from the Library of Congress, and my dear friend Rolando Estévez. So, it's really, really an honor to be here today to talk about a Cuban Love Affair, the Art of the Book. So, before I begin, I'm going to just say a little bit more about Rolando Estévez. We've already covered some of his bio, but just to add a little bit more that's important. So, Rolando Estévez, and we -- in Cuba we call him Estévez. Right? We don't call him Rolando. His sister calls him Rolly. But in Cuba he's just known as Estévez, people, a lot of artist in Cuba go by their last name. So, if you hear me calling him Estévez, I'm not being disrespectful. That's the name that he uses. So Estévez was born in Matanzas in Cuba, and he is a poet, he is a visual artist, he works in multiple mediums, including drawing, painting, installation, performance, and what's very important to know is that he also does set design for the theater, and that really informs the way he constructs books in a very theatrical and dramatic way. He teaches free style design and theater design in Matanzas and, in Matanzas, he is a leading promoter and organizer of artistic events, of competitions, of exhibitions and other alternative cultural activities. He really is a force in Matanzas. And in 1985, he and the poet Alfredo Zaldívar founded Ediciones Vigía, and all of you I think had a chance to see some of the Ediciones Vigía books here, and it's very interesting to understand how they started out in 1985. Initially, their aim was to create a welcoming space for young poets from Matanzas, for local poets, and what they did at the very beginning was to create beautiful invitations to poetry readings. That was basically how they started, and these readings were always accompanied by a musical recital. So that was kind of the origin of this project. They didn't have paper. This was the 80s. They didn't have paper to make the invitations. So, they went to the local butcher shops in Matanzas and they asked for the brown paper from the butcher shops. And that was how they started making these beautiful invitations on very simple brown paper, and as you can see the brown craft paper is still used in Estévez's new books, which I'll talk about in a moment. So, Ediciones Vigía, important to know that it was born in the city of Matanzas, which is 50 miles away from Habana, and it's a city known as "The Athens of Cuba", because there's always been a lot of reverence for poetry and music in Matanzas, and it's where the beautiful dance form of the danzón was born in the city of Matanzas. And Matanzas has this historic plaza, la Plaza de la Vigía, and it was from that plaza, which it translates roughly into "the watchtower plaza". It was from that plaza that they could see the ships entering the bay of Matanzas and they could take action quickly if pirates were trying to come and take over the city. So, this notion of being a vigía, of watching over things was a definition that was very important to the co-founders of this amazing book project. And over time, Vigía evolved, it grew bigger, it grew into a publishing house that involved writers, designers and volunteers who worked collaboratively to create these beautiful handmade books. And the way it worked, when Estévez was with Ediciones Vigía is he would make a complete book, he would create, fabricar a complete book, he would bring it to Vigía, and then they would make two hundred copies of the book, and that was the way they produced the books. And what's interesting is they gave attention to Cuban writers on the island, and you saw some of the books in the display, like Dulce María Loynaz, Nancy Morejón, Fina García Marruz, Miguel Barnet, all very important Cuban writers, and always honoring José Martí, the great independence leader and poet of Cuba, but there was also a commitment to give space to international authors, such as Borges or García Lorca, as you saw in the exhibit, Borís Pasternak as well, while celebrating the work of great American writers, such as Emily Dickinson. Y voy a hablar un poquito del Dickinson. So, I think all of you've got to see the Emily Dickinson book here in the display, and it's just a totally exquisite book from 1998, and I think this is one of the most spectacular handmade books that I have seen, and Estévez read up on Emily Dickinson, her biography. He knew that she was very agoraphobic, and so he built a house for her, for this reclusive poet, and put the poems inside that house. At the time, Estévez had not yet visited Dickenson's house in Amherst, which is now a museum, but eventually he did get to go there and he learned that the house that he had imagined in his dreams had turned out to be very much like the one she had inhabited in real life. And so, the books that he designed for Ediciones Vigía are now collected all over the world. We have this wonderful collection here in the Library of Congress, there are also books in MoMA, there are books in the British Library and I want to brag for a moment and say there are books in many university libraries, including the University of Michigan, and we have a very large collection of his books in our Special Collections Division, because the University of Michigan was the first American university that Estévez visited, when I invited him back in the late 90s. And, so, we began to celebrate and to conserve these books. So, between 1985 and 2013, Estévez was the artistic director of Ediciones Vigía, and during that time he produced over 500 gorgeous handmade books. And it's a major contribution to Cuban art and letters. We had an interdisciplinary conference back in 2012, called Cultural Bricolage, organized by professor Juanamaría Cordones-Cook, and there was so much interest in this conference that we decided to produce an anthology about Estévez's work for Vigía and his work as a book artist, and I'm one of the coeditors of this book which will be coming out next year and it will be called or tentatively called Beautiful Books in the Age of Technology: Rolando Estévez and the Making of Vigía in Cuba. Today, Estévez will be sharing his new work, and this is taking him in very, very exciting directions. In 2013, he made the decision to leave Ediciones Vigía and form his own imprint, and we saw there's a few of the new books here. His new imprint is called El Fortín. El Fortín means "the little fort", and his plan was to be able to produce limited edition books as well as one-of-a-kind arts books and just to have more freedom to do his work as a book artist. ^M00:20:21 An they've already gained very, very wide recognition, and with so - Me perdonas si estoy hablando mucho. >> Rolando Estévez: No, no, para nada. Por favor, no. >> Ruth Behar: And what's so amazing is that Estévez is now the first licensed independent bookmaker in Cuba. All right? So, he's able to produce these books as an independent bookmaker and he will be spearheading the first ever artist-book pavilion at the coming bienal, art bienal that will take place in April of 2018. And a new generation of Cuban book artists is now being born and they are all looking to him for inspiration. So, as you'll see today, his creative development as a bookmaker has really inspired him to keep pushing at the limits of how to make a book that can be called a work of art and also be a book at the same time. And as his bookmaking has developed, he's found new ways for words and images to speak to each other ever more exuberantly, becoming, I think, a modern version of the illuminated medieval manuscripts. And I think in our era of virtual books, Estévez's work gives us all the possibility of experiencing that tactile sensuality of interacting with books in ways that restore to us the wonder of the text. So, to end these remarks, I just want to say something about my friendship with Estévez. We met back in 1994, que nos conocimos en el '94, so 24 years ago, we met at the Habana book fair, and Estévez had stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and to take a break from working at the Ediciones Vigía stand at the Habana book fair. He was selling these postales that were essentially these beautiful hand-painted drawings that incorporated lines of poetry from Dulce María Loynaz. At the time, I didn't know who Dulce María Loynaz was. She then became a huge influence on my life, and he said to me, "Don't tell me you've never heard of Dulce María. She's one of Cuba's most important poets." And I said that I hadn't heard of her. And I realized how much I had yet to learn from Rolando Estévez about Cuban literature, culture and history. And we struck up a conversation back then in 1994. He was watching me intently and I ended up telling him that I was this cubana who was returning to the island looking for my roots, I was speaking to him of my need to return even though my parents didn't want me to travel to Cuba and in fact they've never been back, and he nodded very sympathetically and then he said that I reminded him of his younger sister. She was an eight-year-old girl when she left Cuba with their parents in 1969. He had not seen her in all that time. He'd not been able to leave because he was 15 and considered of military age by Cuban law. So, he knew in his own flesh how immigration could cut both ways, producing grief for those leaving as well as for those waving goodbye. And after our conversation, Estévez said that I should go inside and have a look at the Ediciones Vigía books, and I said to him, "But, how will I find them?" And he said, "Oh, you'll find them. You won't be able to miss them." And he lit up another cigarette and I went inside, and I walk through this dark hall, seeing just a lot of gloomy-looking books printed by the government presses, and I said, "Where do I find Ediciones Vigía?" And then I saw this tall palm tree and it was made of the brown butcher paper, very tall palm tree, the tree of course had been designed and built by Estévez. And he was right, it was impossible to miss these beautiful books. They were all fashioned from simple brown paper, were handmade, hand-colored, hand-printed, hand-bound, and I didn't know what to make of these creations, but I fell in love with them immediately. And so began my Cuban love affair with the artist of the book and especially with the art of Estévez's books. So honored and so thrilled to be here, and with that, I don't know if I'll move to Catalina Gómez o move toward our conversation with Rolando Estévez. >> Catalina Gómez: I think it should be Rolando Estévez. >> Ruth Behar: Thank you so much. [risa] ^M00:25:14 [ Aplausos ] ^M00:25:19 >> Catalina Gómez: I think you should -- I should be at the end. >> Ruth Behar: You should be at the end. >> Catalina Gómez: I think, yes. >> Ruth Gómez: Okay. >> Catalina Gómez: [ininteligible] the stars. >> Ruth Behar: So, we'll start with -- we're going -- we have several books that we want to show you, and discuss with you, and I will be both interacting and translating as well from Spanish. >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Quieres comentar alguno -- ? >> Ruth Behar: Eh, no, vamos a empezar. Yo creo que yay o he hablado demasiado. >> Rolando Estévez: Ya. >> Ruth Behar: Sí, sí. >> Rolando Estévez: Voy a empezar. Bueno, quiero empezar mostrando, darle las gracias a Ruth por -- y a la Biblioteca del Congreso, sobre todo, por esta oportunidad y por cuánto me emociona ver esos libros de Vigía y El Fortín ahí, en esta exposición. >> Ruth Behar: So, he wants to say thank you so much to all of us for being here, the two of us, and how incredibly moved he is to see the books here at the Library of Congress, and so beautifully conserved. >> Rolando Estévez: Quiero decir primero que El Fortín es mi continuación como artista en el mundo del libro. Empecé, fundé Vigía junto a Alfredo Zaldívar en el '85. Estuve 28 años y más en ese lugar. >> Ruth Behar: So, El Fortín is a continuation of the work that he began at Ediciones Vigía. He worked with Zaldívar, the cofounder, for 28 years and now is continuing the work with El Fortín. >> Rolando Estévez: El Fortín es mi propio Proyecto. Ya en Cuba puede haber un proyecto privado de libros. Fui el primero, ya lo dijiste. >> Ruth Behar: Sí. So, El Fortín, again, is the first independent bookmaking project. >> Rolando Estévez: Y este Fortín me da la posibilidad de continuar mi trabajo como diseñador de libros, añandiendo ahora el trabajo de los libros arte, los ejemplares únicos. >> Ruth Behar: So, El Fortín allows him to keep doing books in small series while at the same time being able to make one-of-a-kind unique artists' books. >> Rolando Estévez: Quiero empezar mostrándoles este libro que es un poster de Alejo Galván, un poeta de la ciudad. Vamos a zafarlo aquí. Estos libros llevan una interacción. >> Ruth Behar: His books require quite a lot of interaction. This is a book of poems, three poems by Alejo Galván, a poet from Matanzas, and it's called La Tarde, The Afternoon. >> Rolando Estévez: Se me hizo un nudito aquí, momentico. Ya. >> Ruth Behar: Ya está. ^M00:27:43 ^M00:27:47 >> Rolando Estévez: Este poster contiene tres poemas de Alejo Galván, poemas dedicados a la ciudad de los puentes y los ríos. Aquí están las imágenes de la ciudad. >> Ruth Behar: So, these are three poems that are all about the city of Matanzas, and Matanzas is a city of three rivers, and the ocean, and many bridges, and so he captures that in the artwork. >> Rolando Estévez: En la cabeza de esta mujer que es como la ciudad, el lighthouse. Me encanta la palabra en inglés. El faro, que es el símbolo de Ediciones El Fortín. >> Ruth Behar: So, the lighthouse is the symbol of El Fortín, of his imprint El Fortín. And he mentioned that there's a lighthouse coming out of the head of the woman, and he loves that word in English. So, he tends to say "lighthouse" rather than "faro", which is the word in Spanish. >> Rolando Estévez: Por la parte de atrás, las informaciones sobre la cantidad de ejemplares, sobre el poeta, en fin. >> Ruth Behar: So, he includes information about the poet, the number of copies that were made. So, all of that information is always included in each book. >> Rolando Estévez: Pequeñas notas, pequeñas sorpresas que siempre tienen estos libros. >> Ruth Behar: Notes and surprises, as he said, the books always contain surprises. >> Rolando Estévez: En este caso, una nota sobre el poeta, sobre el autor. ^M00:29:07 ^M00:29:10 >> Ruth Behar: So, there's a note there about the author. ^M00:29:12 ^M00:29:14 >> Rolando Estévez: [ Inaudible ] ^M00:29:16 ^M00:29:18 >> Ruth Behar: Entonces, ese es un libro que es un libro como poster, tú decías. >> Rolando Estévez: Como poster, sí. >> Ruth Behar: Como poster. So, it's like a book-poster. Y la idea de poder también, o sea, tenerlo en la pared, como arte, como obre de arte. >> Rolando Estévez: Sí, están hechos exactamente para eso, para poder leerlos, interactuar con ellos o tenerlos en una pared, como se pone un cuadro, como se pone un cartel. >> Ruth Behar: Ahá. So, the idea of being able to interact with the book, read it, but you can also hang it up and enjoy it as a work of art as well. >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Seguimos? >> Ruth Behar: Seguimos, eh -- >> Rolando Estévez: Eliseo. >> Ruth Behar: Eliseo. ^M00:29:47 ^M00:29:49 >> Rolando Estévez: Este es un poeta que no vive en la ciudad de Matanzas. Eh, este es un poeta que vive en una pequeña ciudad del sur de la provincial que se llama Jovellanos, un pueblo donde hay mucha cultura negra, afrocubana, un asentamiento muy grande de esclavos hubo en ese lugar. >> Ruth Behar: Déjame traducir. >> Rolando Estévez: Sí. >> Ruth Behar: So, this poet, Eliseo Abreu Hernández is from the province of Matanzas, from the town of Jovellanos, where there was and continues to be a very, very important Afro-Cuban presence, culture and religious and spiritual presence, and that's where this poet is from. >> Rolando Estévez: Este hombre ganó el concurso Digdora Alonso, que es un concurso de poesía que tiene Ediciones El Fortín. >> Ruth Behar: So, he has a competition, a poetry competition each year at El Fortín and this poet won, and therefore his book was published in El Fortín. >> Rolando Estévez: Es un libro también bilingüe. Casi todos los libros del Fortín son o bilingües o trilingües, porque es una manera en que más personas pueden llegar a leer el libro. >> Ruth Behar: So, this book is bilingual, and he tries to have his El Fortín books bilingual and sometimes even trilingual, so that more people can have access to these texts. >> Rolando Estévez: La bolsa es como una pequeña mochila que se pudiera llevar aquí al hombre. ^M00:31:11 >> Ruth Behar: [Risa] Probably doesn't need translation, but the idea that it's almost a little knapsack and you can carry it with you. >> Rolando Estévez: Este es un poeta fuerte, enérgico, con poemas muy -- >> Ruth Behar: This is a very, very strong poet. Y este poeta está enfermo, ¿no? >> Rolando Estévez: Está enfermo, enfermo de cáncer. >> Ruth Behar: He's suffering from -- >> Rolando Estévez: Y toda su poesía está llena de esa imploración que hace a la vida por que le siga dando salud y es una poesía que también habla del dolor físico y del dolor espiritual. >> Ruth Behar: So, he is a poet who is suffering from cancer. So, his poems have a lot to do with physical suffering, searching for healing, those are themes in his work. Seguimos. ^M00:31:47 ^M00:31:49 La zafra. >> Rolando Estévez: La Zafra. Este es un libro que me gusta especialmente. Es un libro, La Zafra de Agustín Acosta. Agustín Acosta fue poeta nacional en Cuba antes que Nicolás Guillén. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a book by Agustín Acosta. This is a poet who lived outside of Cuba, in Miami, but before he left Cuba, he was Cuba -- he was declared Cuba's National Poet, before Nicolás Guillén. >> Rolando Estévez: Pero hay algo que es bien interesante. Se fue de Cuba y perdió su condición de poeta nacional y se nombró a otro poeta nacional en Cuba, estando vivo Agustín, que fue Nicolás Guillén. >> Ruth Behar: Right. So, he was Cuba's Nactional Poet, but after he left Cuba, he was no longer Cuba's National Poet, and that was when Nicolás Guillén was named. >> Rolando Estévez: En los oscuros tiempos de los '70 y las parametraciones, este fue un poeta prohibido en Cuba, un poeta que había abandonado el país. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a poet that in the 70s, which is a very dark period in Cuban history, it was impossible to read this poet's work. >> Rolando Estévez: Escribió en la década del 30 su gran libro, La Zafra, y esta es tapa la que contiene. >> Ruth Behar: This is one of his great books, La Zafra. Is the sugar cane harvest. >> Rolando Estévez: Algunos de los poemas de ese libro La Zafra. Está realizada la cubierta en caña de azúcar, prensada. >> Ruth Behar: So the cover has pressed sugar cane. >> Rolando Estévez: Fibras naturales. >> Ruth Behar: Natural fibers. >> Rolando Estévez: Para dar toda la atmósfera del campo. >> Ruth Behar: And this is a selection of poems from this book La Zafra, The Sugar Cane Harvest. >> Rolando Estévez: Y aquí están los dibujos de la portada, de la portadilla, está muy lleno de dibujos. >> Ruth Behar: So, it has a lot of images, a lot of drawings. >> Rolando Estévez: Cada poema está precedido de un dibujo, especialmente hecho para él. >> Ruth Behar: So, each poem is accompanied by an illustration. ^M00:33:45 ^M00:33:50 >> Rolando Estévez: Hasta llegar así al final del libro. Y otra cosa interesante es que la bolsa, esta bolsa está hecha con los sacos que se usan en Cuba para exportar, para comercializar el azúcar. >> Ruth Behar: So, he used for this book an actual bag that's used -- these are the actual bags or sacks that are used in Cuba to transport sugar, so -- >> Rolando Estévez: Es una cosa que he tenido siempre presente en estos libros y también en los únicos, es que el material se tiene que convertir en un contenido del libro. >> Ruth Behar: So, this has always been very much the case in his books, that the container of the book has to be part of the book as well. >> Rolando Estévez: Mm-hm. ¿Seguimos? >> Ruth Behar: Seguimos. Una flor debajo de la bota. >> Rolando Estévez: Este es un pequeño libro mío, una pequeña plaquette, un libro con un poema llamado Una flor debajo de la bota. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a plaquette, a small book with a poem that Estévez himself wrote, A Flower Beneath the Boot. >> Rolando Estévez: Es un poema en contra de la Guerra, por supuesto. >> Ruth Behar: It's an antiwar poem. >> Rolando Estévez: Que habla de las botas militares que aplastan los campos. >> Ruth Estévez: That talks about military boots that squash the fields and flower fields. >> Rolando Estévez: Una sillita que es como la espera de cuándo van a pasar estos tiempos de guerra. >> Ruth Behar: This is a chair indicating waiting when these times of war are going to pass and end. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí hay una nota sobre el poeta. Aquí está. >> Ruth Behar: A little note about the author of the poem, there's the poem. >> Rolando Estévez: Un poema en español. >> Ruth Behar: The poem in Spanish. Y está en inglés. >> Rolando Estévez: Y está en inglés. Y está por detrás -- >> Ruth Behar: And then behind it is the English -- >> Rolando Estévez: El poema en inglés. >> Ruth Behar: The English translation. >> Rolando Estévez: Estas son impresiones directas de una bota military sobre el papel floreado. >> Ruth Behar: So, he used an actual footprint or imprint of a boot here. >> Rolando Estévez: Hecho directamente con la bota de un hombre, una impression directa. >> Ruth Behar: Made directly with a man's boot. >> Rolando Estévez: Y por detrás hay retazos de uniformes militares. >> Ruth Behar: And it's got bits and pieces of military uniforms here. ^M00:36:00 ^M00:36:11 >> Rolando Estévez: Okay. Este es el símbolo de ediciones El Fortín, es un cuño que tengo para estos libros y siempre está en esta página el cuño, el número del ejemplar y la firma. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a special stamp that it has, again, symbolizing the lighthouse, is the symbol of El Fortín. ¿Seguimos? Bolero [initeligible]. >> Rolando Estévez: Ah, Bueno. Este es un libro muy especial para mí, es de un gran amigo. >> Ruth Behar: This is a special book, this is of -- >> Rolando Estévez: Gran músico, Lázaro Horta. >> Ruth Baher: A friend of his, Lázaro Horta, who is a musician. >> Rolando Estévez: Vive en Miami hace más de 20 años. >> Ruth Baher: He's been living in Miami for more than 20 years. >> Rolando Estévez: Ha ido constantemente a Matanzas a cantar y pasó una cosa muy curiosa. Este año, al principio, fue y, como no llevaba una visa cultural, no lo permitieron cantar en Matanzas. >> Ruth Baher: Ahá, wow. So, he goes back, he's from Matanzas as well, Lázaro Horta, his friend, and he goes back all the time to, you know, to visit, to be there. But this past year, he went to Matanzas and he didn't have a cultural visa and they didn't let him sing in his hometown. >> Rolando Estévez: Este libro tiene cinco canciones de Lázaro Horta. >> Ruth Behar: So, this book has five songs. >> Rolando Estévez: La herradura viene por el último poema, la última canción que se llama "¿Dónde están los caballos?" >> Ruth Behar: And this symbol here is for a poem, one of the last poems, which is about where are the horses. >> Rolando Estévez: El dibujo que se desplaza, completamente todo iluminado a mano. Ahí no hay color impreso en ninguno. >> Ruth Baher: So that lovely illustration. Enséñalo otra vez. That lovely illustration is all hand-done and hand-painted. >> Rolando Estévez: Esta piedra es recogida en el barrio de Pueblo Nuevo, el barrio donde nació y creció Lázaro Horta. >> Ruth Behar: So, there's a stone there from the neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo, which is where Lázaro Horta is from. >> Rolando Estévez: Y todos estos detalles se aclaran. Siempre, en cada libro de El Fortín, en el machón o colofón. >> Ruth Behar: So, all of these details about the book and how it was [ininteligible]. >> Rolando Estévez: Ahí se aclara todos esos detalles de la Piedra, la cantidad de ejemplares, que la iluminación es completamente manual, en fin. >> Ruth Behar: All the information, things like the use of the stone, the way that things were colored in, all of that information is at the end of the books. So, the story of the book is included with the book. >> Rolando Estévez: Distintos papeles, distintos tipos de letra, el piano presente, que es el instrument que lo acompaña en la música. >> Ruth Behar: Different kinds of paper, different kinds of print, images, and then the piano is there as a symbol, since that is Lázaro's instrument. >> Rolando Estévez: Muchos dibujos, la nota introductoria, un bolero sin fin, una ilustración, un dibujo para cada una de las canciones. >> Ruth Behar: So, an illustration for each song, and "Bolero sin fin" means "endless bolero", a bolero that doesn't end. Boleros are the beautiful love songs that come [ininteligible]. >> Rolando Estévez: Cada una de las canciones tiene también la música manuscrita por el músico, por Lázaro Horta, y que después yo reproduje, pero están manuscritas y firmadas por el músico. >> Ruth Behar: He also included these manuscript copies of the actual musical notations of Lázaro. >> Rolando Estévez: Así, cada cancion tiene un dibujo que está lleno de la atmósfera de cada cancion, igual su música. Y así, las cinco canciones. Este es el marcador, marca el libro. >> Ruth Behar: So, the five -- ¿Te ayudo? >> Rolando Estévez: Sí, ábrelo. >> Ruth Behar: The five songs and then -- >> Rolando Estévez: Este piano con alas. Este piano con alas que está aquí. >> Ruth Behar: Ahá. The piano with wings. ^M00:39:52 ^M00:39:55 >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Dónde están los caballos? La cancion que cierra el libro, con su dibujo. >> Ruth Behar: The closing song is Where are the Horses? >> Rolando Estévez: Y también la música y después, bueno, las informaciones que dan el machón, el índice y todo esos -- >> Ruth Behar: And all the information at the end, again, about the book and how is made and the elements that were used. ^M00:40:13 ^M00:40:16 >> Rolando Estévez: Okay. Seguimos. >> Ruth Behar: Seguimos. ^M00:40:19 ^M00:40:21 Okay. Los cinco poemas del mar. >> Rolando Estévez: Cinco poemas del mar y de la soledad. ^M00:40:27 ^M00:40:29 A ver cómo pongo esto para que -- >> Ruth Behar: ¿Te ayudo? ^M00:40:31 ^M00:40:34 >> Rolando Estévez: Ya. ^M00:40:35 ^M00:40:38 Cinco poemas del mar y de la Soledad es otro de los acercamientos que ha hecho Ediciones El Fortín -- ^M00:40:46 ^M00:40:51 A la obra de Ruth Behar y a la Amistad que nos une en el arte, sobre todo, es una amistad que tiene mucha entraña artística, mucha entraña literaria y plástica. >> Ruth Behar: Ay, gracias. So, this book is a collaboration between us, again, part of our long friendship and interconnection of our lives and artistic work as well. >> Rolando Estévez: También tiene una bosa. >> Ruth Behar: It also comes with a special bag. >> Rolando Estévez: El libro se llama Poemas del mar y de la Soledad. Tiene esta imagen de la Virgen de Regla. >> Ruth Behar: So, it's called Five Poems About the Sea and Solitude. It has an image of the Virgin of Regla. >> Rolando Estévez: Que sincretiza nuestras religiones con Yemayá, que es la dueña del mar, la orisha del mar. >> Ruth Behar: Which, the Virgin of Regla syncretize with Yemayá, who is de deity of the ocean, of the sea, very, very important in Cuba. >> Rolando Estévez: Tiene siete conchas. El siete es el número de Yemayá. El siete. >> Ruth Behar: And she has seven seashells, because this is her number. This is Yemaya's number. >> Rolando Estévez: Cualquier papel hermoso sirve para trabajar en esta editorial. Esto es unas servilletas que encontré en una parte, en un lugar del mundo y me parecieron perfectas. Se las pedí a la dueña, fui a comer a una casa, y le dije: "¿Tienes más servilletas de esas?" Me dijo: "Tengo una caja llena." "Si me las da, me las llevo". >> Ruth Behar: So, all paper is beautiful for him to use in his books and this particular one, this paper that he loves so much, he ate at somebody's house and she, this woman had these beautiful napkins. He said, "Do you have any more?" And she said, "Yes, I have a whole box." [risa] And they ended up in this book. >> Rolando Estévez: Hay un lenguaje del papel en estos libros, ¿no? El papel es el elemento por antonomasia distintivo de un libro. Pero hay en estos libros un elogio del papel, una manera de hablar a través de los papeles distintos, de los distintos papeles, las distintas texturas. >> Ruth Behar: So, his books have so much to do with the language of paper, with paper and all its different textures and in many ways the books are a kind of praise for paper, right? By definition, books are made of paper. Here, there's a kind of reflection and practice of the paper, so -- >> Rolando Estévez: Papeles distintos, aquí hay tres papeles distintos. Están conversando entre los tres. Un papel albal, un papel crepé, un papel blanco. >> Ruth Behar: Different papers kind of interacting with each other, crepe paper and other kinds of paper coming together. >> Rolando Estévez: Como siempre, los dibujos están muy también aportando elementos de contenido a estos libros. Esta espada que tiene el nombre de Behar. >> Ruth Behar: Also, of course, the images are very important in interacting with the text, and this is a sword, it has my name on it. He also added my second last name, which you know in Latin America we use the patronym and the matronym so much here. So, in Cuba, I acquired my other last name. >> Rolando Estévez: [Ininteligible] Este es un libro bilingüe también, están los cinco poemas en su edición inglesa y en su versión en castellano. >> Ruth Behar: So, the five poems, in English and Spanish. >> Rolando Estévez: Índice, machón. ^M00:44:09 ^M00:44:14 Y aquí, entonces, el número del ejemplar, algo que es también muy bonito. Estos libros no pasan de los 50 ejemplares. Están entre los 35, los 40, los 50 ejemplares, según sea el caso. >> Ruth Behar: So, each book is numbered. This happened to be number 12. And he makes these small editions, sometimes, 35, 50 at most. So, these are small edition books. Eh, ahora este. >> Rolando Estévez: Ah, los judíos. >> Ruth Behar: Los judíos. ^M00:44:43 ^M00:44:47 >> Rolando Estévez: Ya. Esta es una pequeña antología de poesía judía, eh, que realizó, es decir, al trabajo de antologación lo hizo Ruth Behar. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a collection of poets, by Jewish-Cuban poets, something that had never been done before, that I put together and it's called, in English, it's I'm Loving you from my Roots, is the name of the collection. >> Rolando Estévez: Después de leerme la antología y un poco a partir del conocimiento que había tenido de la poesía escrita por judíos en el mundo, pues, entonces aquí salió -- >> Ruth Behar: So, after reading these poems and reading other poems by Jewish poets, Estévez himself wrote a poem called -- >> Rolando Estévez: Un poema que escribí a los poetas judíos. >> Ruth Behar: Sort of his response to these poems that he wrote, called -- >> Rolando Estévez: Estos libros también me están sirviendo ahora en El Fortín para implicarme más como escritor y como poeta dentro de la dinámica de los libros. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is helping him to really be -- to involve himself in the dynamic of bookmaking and of writing as well. >> Rolando Estévez: Vamos a abrir el libro ahora. Zafando allí la rafia. >> Ruth Behar: So, this has some rafia fiber to open and close the book. >> Rolando Estévez: El yute, la rafia, el papel de corcho, aserrín. >> Ruth Behar: Different kinds of paper, cork and other forms of paper. >> Rolando Estévez: Cualquier material es bueno para lograr una imagen interesante en estos libros, una textura interesante. >> Ruth Behar: So, any kind of papers is good to create exciting texture in these books. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí está esta menora. >> Ruth Behar: Here there's an image of the menorah. >> Rolando Estévez: Con distintos argumentos conceptuales, que tienen que ver con el mundo judío. >> Ruth Behar: With different concepts of Jewish thinking. ^M00:46:48 ^M00:46:50 >> Rolando Estévez: El tipo de letra es otra cosa que en estos libros también tiene -- yo creo que cada libro requiere de su propia letra, su propia tipografía. >> Ruth Behar: So, each book requires its own unique form of lettering, of font, and so he also works on that very carefully. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí está el prólogo. >> Ruth Behar: The prologue. >> Rolando Estévez: Y un poco pensando en los judíos fundamentalistas, se me ocurrió la idea que el fondo del los textos fuera negro. >> Ruth Behar: So, he also decided to use a black foundation for this book, thinking of kind of, you know, orthodox people. >> Rolando Estévez: Ahí están los cuatro poetas. Son cuatro, ¿verdad? >> Ruth Behar: Son cuatro. >> Rolando Estévez: Cuatro poetas. Están en español, están en inglés. >> Ruth Behar: So, four poets in Spanish and English are included in this book. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí está el dibujo que divide la parte española de la parte -- la parte en español de la parte en inglés. >> Ruth Behar: That illustration divides the book between English and Spanish. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí, el otro. Ahí termina, aquí empieza. ^M00:47:53 ^M00:47:57 Y al final, bueno, el índice y todas las informaciones que llevan estos libros. >> Ruth Behar: The index and all the information about the book and how is made and the materials that were used to make the book. >> Rolando Estévez: Después ordenamos. >> Ruth Behar: Sí, sí, sí, sí, sí. >> Rolando Estévez: Vamos, así. >> Ruth Behar: Vamos a seguir con Frida. >> Rolando Estévez: Frida. ^M00:48:17 ^M00:48:20 Aquí está mi poema a Frida Kahlo. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a poem that he wrote and dedicated to Frida Kahlo. >> Rolando Estévez: Se llama "Con duro polvo de óleo". >> Ruth Behar: And it's called "With Tough Oil Paint" or Duro polvo de óleo. >> Catalina Gómez: Golden dust? No? >> Ruth Behar: Is it golden dust? >> Catalina Gómez: ¿Polvo de oro? >> Rolando Estévez: Polvo de óleo. >> Ruth Behar: Óleo, óleo. >> Catalina Gómez: Óleo, sorry. That's right. >> Ruth Behar: Yeh, yeah. >> Catalina Gómez: Oil. >> Ruth Behar: Oil. So, Tough Oil Paint or something like that. >> Rolando Estévez: Sobre el dibujo, toda la iluminación de esa cabeza fue hecha a mano, los 50 ejemplares, uno a uno. >> Ruth Behar: So, with this book, all 50 copies, these were all hand-illustrated. >> Rolando Estévez: La realización del arete en forma de luna. Un pincel, dos pinceles o tres pinceles, según sea el caso. >> Ruth Behar: We were discussing this before with cataloging, that at the book fairy sometimes there's one paintbrush, sometimes two, and sometimes three. So they're all a little different from each other. >> Rolando Estévez: Título. >> Ruth Behar: The title. >> Rolando Estévez: Autor. ^M00:49:19 ^M00:49:27 El texto. ^M00:49:30 >> Ruth Behar: The text, which is a beautiful poem that he wrote and dedicated to Frida Kahlo. >> Rolando Estévez: Está largo. Aquí el machón, con su sorpresa. Estos libros siempre están convocándonos a la sorpresa. >> Ruth Behar: And then, there's a surprise. It's like the machon, the information about the book. ^M00:49:51 ^M00:49:54 >> Rolando Estévez: Y creo que es una de las cosas que hace que interactuemos con el libro, es que lo podamos tocar, podamos desplegar los papeles que tiene, podamos abrir este tipo de informaciones también. >> Ruth Behar: So, one of the things that allows us to interact with the book is the way they are, these folded parts of the book, and we can interact with it and surprise ourselves as we open and look through the book. >> Rolando Estévez: Y detrás, el símbolo de El Fortín sobre los ojos de Frida Kahlo. >> Ruth Behar: The symbol of El Fortín at the back over Frida Kahlo's eyes. Eh, Edith. >> Rolando Estévez: Edith. Esta es una -- la tercera edición ya de este poema. Es la primera vez que tiene una edición de un libro completamente hecho a mano. La figura de Edith Piaf está aquí, en la foto, pegada sobre una concha marina transparente, muy clarita. Es una concha, es bueno tocarla. Estos libros, yo sé que no los dejan tocar mucho, pero son muy buenos para tocar, porque hay distintas texturas, y aquí está el yute, aquí, la concha marina, aquí, el algodón. Se me olvida que tú tienes que traducir. >> Ruth Behar: No, no, sí. So, this is a book dedicated to Edith Piaf. Again, it's a poem that Estévez wrote and it's the third time or third edition of this poem, and it has a seashell there on the cover with her image over it, and he says that it's really nice to touch it even though he knows that we are not encouraged to touch the books that much at the Library of Congress, but it feels very nice to touch this cover. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí está. ^M00:51:35 ^M00:51:38 Es como una carpeta. Solo está agarrado por este cordel. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is kind of like, like a -- almost like a portfolio just held together with a - with this bit of wool or string in the center. >> Rolando Estévez: Este es un libro español-francés, bilingüe. >> Ruth Behar: This one is Spanish-French bilingual. >> Rolando Estévez: Para homenajear a Edith Piaf también con su idioma. >> Ruth Behar: To honor Edith Piaf -- >> Rolando Estévez: Con su lengua madre. >> Ruth Behar: With her mother tongue. >> Rolando Estévez: Y entonces, aquí, está el poema. ^M00:52:12 ^M00:52:16 En español. >> Ruth Behar: Here's the poem in Spanish. >> Rolando Estévez: Y también en francés. >> Ruth Behar: And in French. ^M00:52:22 ^M00:52:23 >> Catalina Gómez: So, wow. ^M00:52:26 >> Rolando Estévez: Ahora sí, tenemos que doblarlo para poder plegarlo. Para poder seguir hay que doblarlo. >> Ruth Behar: [Risa] This book has some complicated engineering too, as you see, getting them to fold properly. ^M00:52:37 ^M00:52:39 >> Rolando Estévez: Yo creo que es una manera distinta de mirar al libro y vengo haciendo esto hace más de 30 años ya. >> Ruth Behar: It's another way to look at the book or think about books and he's been doing this for over 30 years. >> Rolando Estévez: Me da gusto poder cada vez experimentar con algo distinto, darle a cada libro su carácter, darle a cada libro su discurso. Eso me da un reto, es un reto para mí como artista tratar de encontrar qué llevará este libro, qué material, qué dibujo, qué letra. >> Ruth Behar: So, he really takes joy in being able to make these books and it's a wonderful artistic challenge each book, to figure out what is this book going to need, what kind of paper, design, lettering and to reconstruct new books every time, construct new books every time. ^M00:53:28 ^M00:53:31 >> Rolando Estévez: Entonces, aquí al final, donde uno parece que no va a ver nada más -- >> Ruth Behar: And here, when you think there's nothing more to discover, then you come and now look at this. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí están estos ángeles para Edith Piaf. >> Ruth Behar: These are angels for Edith Piaf. >> Rolando Estévez: Delante de la Torre Eiffel. >> Ruth Behar: And in front of the Eiffel Tower. ^M00:53:49 ^M00:53:53 Yeah, ahá. ^M00:53:54 ^M00:53:58 >> Rolando Estévez: Y al fondo, el faro de El Fortín convertido en la Torre Eiffel, la Torre Eiffel convertida en el faro de El Fortín. >> Ruth Behar: And the back cover, the lighthouse of El Fortín transformed into the Eiffel Tower. Las damas cubanas. >> Rolando Estévez: Yeah. Un momentico. Un traguito de agua. ^M00:54:15 ^M00:54:20 Las damas cubanas es la primer aantología que hizo Ediciones El Fortín. En este caso, hay 33 poetas cubanas. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is the first anthology that El Fortín produced of 33 Cuban women poets. >> Rolando Estévez: Comenzamos con Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda y terminamos con una mujer que ahora tiene 50 años, que es Damaris Calderón. No quisimos meternos en el mundo de las nuevas y las novísimas, sino llegar a ese rango nada más. >> Ruth Behar: So, it's a book that begins with Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, a very, very important poet of the colonial period, and ends with a poet who's now 50 years old, Damaris Calderón. Que ella vive en Chile, ¿no? >> Rolando Estévez: En Chile vive, en Chile. >> Ruth Behar. In Chile, lives in Chile. >> Rolando Estévez: El juego con la máscara es a partir de un eslógan que tiene la antología que dice que la poesía es una máscara que el corazón se pone para convertir el dolor en belleza. >> Ruth Behar: So, the use of the mask is a very important symbol in this book. It comes from a line that he quotes at the very, very end of the book. ¿Podría ver la frase otra vez? >> Rolando Estévez: Sí. >> Ruth Behar: The poetry -- >> Rolando Estévez: Está al final. >> Ruth Behar: Poetry is a mask -- >> Rolando Estévez: Espera. >> Ruth Behar: Ahí está. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí. >> Ruth Behar: Ahá. The poetry is a mask that the heart wears in order to transform pain into beauty. >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Ya? >> Ruth Behar: Mm-hm. >> Rolando Estévez: Entonces, están estas mascaras en cerámica, completamente hechas especialmente para este libro también. >> Ruth Behar: So, these ceramic masks that were made specifically for this book. >> Rolando Estévez: Estos fondos son retazos de unas sobrecamas que me encontré en venta muy baratas en Matanzas, y las compramos y las recortamos, todas las limpiamos. >> Ruth Behar: So, the cover was made from some old bed covers that he found in Matanzas and cut up and transformed into this cover, this kind of plush-looking cover for the book. ^M00:56:18 ^M00:56:19 >> Rolando Estévez: Esta es la humedad que lo pega, la humedad de Cuba. >> Ruth Behar: That's Cuban humidity [risa]. >> Rolando Estévez: Están major aquí en las cajas, que aquí las inventaron, horizontales, aquí están perfecto. Yo, de verdad, realmente respeto mucho estas colecciones de Michigan, de Misuri, de la Universidad de Miami, la de la Biblioteca del Congreso, que es fabulosa. La conocí desde el evento en Misuri, que ella expuso el sistema que encontraron para almacenar estos libros. Son libros frágiles, son libros enemigos de la humedad. Disculpa. I'm sorry, >> Ruth Behar: So, he's discussing how these books are fragile and enemies of humidity, and [fonética] Gina Truise, at the conference that we were at a few years ago, discussed all the challenges of conserving the books. And he's so glad that the books are being conserved in places like the Library of Congress and various universities, and that they are, you know, being maintained so beautifully, 'cause they are very, very difficult to maintain. They are produced in Cuba, but difficult to maintain in Cuba with all the humidity. >> Rolando Estévez: South California, South California también tiene una buena colección, [initeligible] una que se [ininteligible] en Miami, pero ella dio una lección en Misuri sobre cómo se almacenan estos libros, que me parece aquí perfecto. Y uno siente una seguridad muy grande de saber que hay instituciones que los tienen, porque son frágiles, son delicados, tan hechos con materiales reciclados. >> Ruth Behar: So, he is so glad that books are conserved so wonderfully here. He knows these are very fragile books, they are made -- they are delicate books, they are made with a lot of recycled materials. They are very, very hard to conserve. And so, he's so grateful and so glad she did -- that you shared that information, and hopefully we'll have time afterwards to say a little bit more about that too. ^M00:58:10 ^M00:58:12 >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí ya empieza la Avellaneda. >> Ruth Behar: So, that's the first poem. >> Rolando Estévez: Pasamos por todas las poetas, las 33. >> Ruth Behar: The 33 poets. >> Rolando Estévez: Nancy Morejón. >> Ruth Behar: Nancy Morejón is here. >> Rolando Estévez: Sofía Estévez. Toda una gran cantidad. Lourdes González. Muchas poetisas. Este es su marcalibro, que es una ramita solamente, como un -- >> Ruth Behar: So that's a bookmark, just a little twig for this one. And -- >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí está entonces el índice. >> Ruth Behar: There's the index. Table of contents, I guess we call it. ^M00:58:41 ^M00:58:45 >> Rolando Estévez: Las 33. >> Ruth Behar: The 33 poets, and a lot of research. When he did this I saw him, when he was -- I saw him in Matanzas when he was working on this book and did a lot of research into the history of women's poetic writing in Cuba. ^M00:58:57 ^M00:59:01 >> Rolando Estévez: Y el final del libro. ¿Ya no nos quedan? >> Ruth Behar: Ya. Ya estamos. Ya. >> Rolando Estévez: Estamos para los únicos. >> Ruth Behar: Estamos para los únicos. Sí. >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Cuál empezamos? >> Ruth Behar: Eh. Aquí vamos. Ponemos a Canción difícil y ya los dos únicos. >> Rolando Estévez: Ah, falta Canción difícil. >> Ruth Behar: Sí. >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Dónde está? >> Ruth Behar: Aquí. [risa] >> Rolando Estévez: Este es un libro de una gran compositora cubana, Marta Valdés, una mujer del feelin. >> Ruth Behar: So, this is a very important book of the work of Marta Valdés, whose is an amazing singer, composer, a very important person in what was called "the feelin" movement. "Feelin", without the "g" in Spanish. >> Rolando Estévez: Es una mujer muy afiliada a la ciudad de Matanzas, aunque nació y vive en la Habana. Es muy afiliada a la ciudad de Matanzas, le ha cantado mucho. >> Ruth Behar: So, she's a woman from Habana, but she has spent a lot of time in Matanzas and has performed frequently in Matanzas, so she's very close to the city. >> Rolando Estévez: Por eso, esta bolsita tiene un poco de arena del río San Juan. >> Ruth Behar: This little bag has a little bit of sand from the San Juan river, which runs through Matanzas. >> Rolando Estévez: Y estas cosas se convierten como en resguardos para el propio libro, ¿no? De alguna manera, es eso. >> Ruth Behar: These things kind of become talismans for the book. >> Rolando Estévez: Exacto, talismán, talismán. Eso es. ^M01:00:21 ^M01:00:25 >> Rolando Estévez: Hay una coincidencia en la fecha. Marta Valdés nació el mismo día que Frida Kahlo, el 6 de julio. >> Ruth Behar: So, it's interesting. Marta Valdés was born on the same day as Frida Kahlo, July, 6th. >> Rolando Estévez: Pero también la poeta cubana Carilda Oliver y Marta Valdés también nacieron el mismo día, el 6 de julio. Aquí está con Carilda, y aquí está con Frida. Nuestra Marta Valdés. >> Ruth Behar: Also, the poet Carilda Oliver Labra was born on July, 6th. Same day, so she's there with each of the two poets. >> Rolando Estévez: Me gusta indagar también, me gusta indagar en el autor. No solamente en su obra, sino en su vida. Por eso es que llevo estos detalles, porque me gusta indagar en la vida del autor. >> Ruth Behar: He likes to explore the life of the author, not just the work of the author. So he tries to bring those things together. ^M01:01:15 ^M01:01:18 >> Rolando Estévez: Todas las informaciones de portada, portadilla. Una nota que le escribe a las canciones de Marta. >> Ruth Behar: A note that he wrote to Marta about her songs. They are so beautiful. If you haven't heard her, look up the songs of Marta Valdés. They are really just -- very beautiful. >> Rolando Estévez: Este es un libro trilingüe, español-francés-inglés. >> Ruth Behar: It's trilingual, Spanish, French and English. >> Rolando Estévez: Primero están las cinco canciones en español. >> Ruth Behar: There's five songs in the book. >> Rolando Estévez: Después vienen en inglés. Tiene -- cada sección tiene este separador amarillo. >> Ruth Behar: So, each section has this image painted yellow. >> Rolando Estévez: Y, al final, entonces, las canciones en francés, las mismas canciones en francés. >> Ruth Behar: At the end, the songs in French. ^M01:02:12 ^M01:02:15 >> Rolando Estévez: Un dibujo largo. >> Ruth Behar: And now a beautiful illustration. ^M01:02:20 ^M01:02:28 >> Rolando Estévez: Y llegamos aquí al final. Otra vez, manchón, guardas y todo lo demás. >> Ruth Behar: Bello. Entonces ya [ininteligible] >> Rolando Estévez: Paralelo a este trabajo de los libros seriados, es decir, a estos libros que son originales multiples, paralelo a este trabajo. >> Ruth Behar: So, parallel to this work that he does, which he considers to be multiple originals, so that's what we've been looking at now, now he's going to share these one-of-a-kind books, these unique artist's books. >> Rolando Estévez: También desde la década de los '80, desde finales de los '80, vengo realizando ejemplares únicos. Un libro completamente artístico, con una sola copia, sin más. >> Ruth Behar: So, since the 80s, he started producing these again one-of-a-kind books that have no further copies. >> Rolando Estévez: Venía preparado para mostrarles tres voluminosos, grandes libros únicos, pero nos jugó una mala pasada la aduana en Cuba y van a llegar esta noche. Así que van a llegar después de la presentación. >> Ruth Behar: So, he shipped along with his bags three big boxes with spectacular new books that he produced specifically for this event, but unfortunately, they were held back at customs in Habana and didn't make it on his flight, but they are arriving tonight, and we hope to show them on Saturday. Very beautiful, ambitious, gorgeous books. So, we only have two of these one-of-a-kind books to show you today. But these are quite spectacular as well, and if you can come on Saturday, you'll see the brand-new ones that he has just made, that are really, really fantastic. >> Rolando Estévez: Sobre una caja de pinturas, ¿no? Una caja de materiales de trabajo. >> Ruth Behar: So, this book is made from a paint box. ¿Le cuento que yo te la había regalado? >> Rolando Estévez: Sí, sí, claro. >> Ruth Behar: So, the story, briefly. So, many, many years ago, I gave him this wooden box that was filled with paints and brushes as a gift, and then, years later, he gave it back to me as this work of art. [risa] And that's -- and it's called -- >> Rolando Estévez: He devuelto el regalo. >> Ruth Behar: He returned it to me. Pensando en mi amiga Ruth Behar. Thinking about my friend, Ruth Behar. >> Rolando Estévez: Es un poema del libro "La vena rota". >> Ruth Behar: So, it's a poem from a book, a beautiful book that he wrote, called "La vena rota." "The Broken Vein". >> Rolando Estévez: Entonces, todos estos materiales, que están ilustrando un poco el poema que, a su vez, se basa en un poema de Dulce María que habla de cuando el hombre se levanta el abrigo, en el muelle frío. Te acuerdas, ¿verdad? >> Ruth Behar: Sí, me encanta. So, this is a poem that Estévez wrote for me, but it references a poem by Dulce María Loynaz about the traveler, who's lifting up his collar, you know, to be met by somebody at the port. So, it references that -- the lines from that poem. >> Rolando Estévez: A veces, uno se pregunta, ¿dónde está el texto? Porque si es un libro, tiene que tener un texto. >> Ruth Behar: Sometimes, you ask yourself, "Where's the text?" If this is a book, it's got to have the text somewhere. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí, en esta cajita. >> Ruth Behar: So, in this little box. ^M01:05:42 ^M01:05:51 >> Rolando Estévez: Esta [initeligible] >> Ruth Behar: Ups. [risa] >> Rolando Estévez: De acordeón. >> Ruth Behar: This is like an accordion. ^M01:05:56 ^M01:05:59 >> Rolando Estévez: El texto. >> Ruth Behar: There's the text. >> Rolando Estévez: Y creo que hay algo más, pero en el fondo. Si mal no recuerdo, ¿o no? >> Ruth Behar: Sí, sí, sí. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí hay una foto de Dulce María Loynaz porque, de alguna manera, es la que nos unió en este poema, donde estamos ella y estoy yo, pero un poco a través de la obra de Dulce María también. Y por detrás, entonces, dice -- habla de esta -- es una foto original que hizo un fotógrafo de Matanzas a Dulce María, y me la regaló, y yo la añadí a este libro. La quiero tanto que me desprendí de la foto y se la di. ^M01:06:41 [ Risas ] ^M01:06:43 >> Ruth Behar: So, this is an original photo of Dulce María Loynaz, de great Cuban poet who won the Cervantes prize, and it was a real photo that he had gotten or that a Matanzas' photographer has taken, and he likes me so much that he gave me this photo that he had. >> Rolando Estévez: Ya no me acordaba de eso. >> Ruth Behar: No. He had forgotten about this. And in a way, Dulce María Loynaz, like I said in my introductory remark was kind of like the bridge between us, she was the first poet that I learned about, Cuban poet that I learned about from him, and she really -- was really important to me and very important to Estévez, and became kind of the bridge, one of the bridges between us. >> Rolando Estévez: Bueno, entonces, para terminar, vamos a hablar un poquito. Con este iba a empezar yo la presentación que iba a hacer, pero la vida le hace esas cosas a uno, y es con el que voy a cerrar. >> Ruth Behar: So, déjame decir. So, he was going to begin, if the other books had arrived with his bags, he was going to begin with this book, and then end with the others, but instead we're going to end with this one. >> Rolando Estévez: Bueno, he hecho una larga colección de ejemplares únicos de libros-arte basados en los Versos sencillos de José Martí, que es un libro espléndido. >> Ruth Behar: So, he's made many unique one-of-a-kind artist's books based on the work of José Martí, particularly, the "Simple Verses", the "Versos sencillos". ^M01:08:11 ^M01:08:14 >> Rolando Estévez: Y está por todas partes Ediciones El Fortín. Bellamar es Matanzas, para mí, Bellamar es Matanzas. Yo le he cambiado el nombre a esa ciudad porque tiene un nombre horrendo y sanguinario. Entonces, he empezado una campana que a lo mejor florece alguna vez. >> Ruth Behar: So, he has begun a campaign in the city of Matanzas, because he doesn't like the name of his city. "Matanzas" literally means "slaughter" or "killings", so it's a very bloody name. >> Rolando Estévez: Di lo que quiere decir en inglés "matanzas". >> Ruth Behar: Sí, sí, ya lo dije. So, it's a name that he doesn't like, a very violent name, and so he's actually begun this campaign to change the name of the city to Bellamar, which means "beautiful ocean." So, he writes, as you saw, he writes Bellamar, that the books are made in Bellamar rather than Matanzas. >> Rolando Estévez: Es un nombre más suave. >> Ruth Behar: It's a nicer, softer name. >> Rolando Estévez: Ya. Entonces, aquí adentro está esta caja de yute. ^M01:09:16 ^M01:09:21 Forrada de girasoles, que son los girasoles de Ochun. >> Ruth Behar: So, here's this beautiful line with burlap, and then at the top, it has the sunflowers, and the sunflowers are the flowers for Ochun, another important deity. >> Rolando Estévez: Estos son los restos de pintura que van quedando en los platos, y yo los aprovecho también, que parecen como unas gotas. Son restos de pintura, de pigmento. >> Ruth Behar: So, he has leftover pigment and paint that he uses also for the box. >> Rolando Estévez: Este es el poema uno de los versos sencillos, una selección del poema uno de los versos sencillos. >> Ruth Behar: This is poem number one of the simple verses, some fragments from it. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí, entonces, empiezo con un poco de información. Aquí hay papeles artesanales. Aquí hay unos papeles que le compré a una artista de papeles en Michigan. Es decir, el papel para mí es una obsesión siempre. Me gusta mucho experimentar y combinarlos. >> Ruth Behar: So, he says he's very, very obsessed with paper. This includes some paper that he acquired while he at Michigan, some handmade papers. ^M01:10:38 ^M01:10:42 >> Rolando Estévez: Vamos a guardar esto para poder seguir. ^M01:10:44 ^M01:10:48 Aquí está el texto del poema, español-inglés, gracias a un traductor maravilloso cubano que vive en Miami, que se llama Manuel Tellechea y que tiene unas traducciones espléndidas. Todo el mundo habla muy bien, yo no sé inglés, pero todo el que lo sabe habla muy bien de las traducciones de Martí de Tellechea. >> Ruth Behar: So, this includes the poem in Spanish and then translations by Manuel Tellechea, who is a Cuban-American poet living in Miami, and he's able to translate Martí into rhymed English, which is extremely difficult to do. >> Rolando Estévez: Aquí hay cinco cuartetas del poema uno. Cinco en español y las mismas cinco en inglés. >> Ruth Behar: So, five stanzas from the poem in Spanish, and then in English. >> Rolando Estévez: Otra parte, la ilustración de este hombre ideal del que habla Martí en el primer poema, que se asombra ante la naturaleza. >> Ruth Behar: So, he made a drawing that represents the unique man that Martí refers to in the opening verses of the poem. >> Rolando Estévez: Y entonces, aquí, al fondo, este pequeño Martí, José Martí. >> Ruth Behar: Here's a small Martí. >> Rolando Estévez: El poeta. Otra información sobre los lugares donde estamos en Matanzas, donde se nos puede encontrar, está ahí también. >> Ruth Behar: Some information about where the book was made in Matanzas or in Bellamar, let's say. >> Rolando Estévez: Y voy a decir algo que he dicho muchas veces, pero bueno, aquí nunca lo he dicho, es que hago muchas cosas en esta vida artística. >> Ruth Behar: So, he's going to say something that he has said many times, but he has never said it here about his artistic life. >> Rolando Estévez: Me he dedicado por muchos años a la enseñanza del arte. >> Ruth Behar: He spent many years teaching art. >> Rolando Estévez: Me dediqué por más de 35 años al mundo del diseño de escenografía y vestuario y luces en el teatro. >> Ruth Behar: For more than 35 years, he was involved in theater set design, and costume design, and lighting design. >> Rolando Estévez: Pinto, dibujo, escribe poesía. >> Ruth Behar: He paints, he draws, he writes poems. >> Rolando Estévez: Pero de todas las cosas que hago, lo que yo quiero hacer hasta el día que me muera son estos libros. >> Ruth Behar: But of all the things that he does, what he wants to do until the day he dies is this. >> Rolando Estévez: Estos libros. Gracias. >> Ruth Behar: These books. Thank you. ^M01:13:19 [ Aplausos ] ^M01:13:22 >> Catalina Gómez: Okay, well. [risa] It's very hard to follow something so amazing like this. I'll be brief because I think we want to leave time for some questions from the audience, but anyway, I'm just so humbled and thrilled to be in the presence of Estévez and Ruth, and such a pleasure. Being a librarian and a curator in the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the division is in charge of collecting materials from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain, and Portugal. We're just so thrilled, because we're just huge fans of the Vigía, Ediciones Vigía, and actually came to know the collection through Gina Truise who -- she works in preservation, and they already mentioned her. She has been involved with this collection, did several trips to Cuba before having her job here at the library and was extremely involved with bringing, you know, books to United States and also, I think, she spent time there and even worked with them. But she did a great presentation of the books, and I remember how I was just like, you know, in cloud nine. It was just like a such an amazing discovery, and they just [ininteligible] to everyone who's sees them, because there's nothing like them. But they're just exquisite. All I want to say is that what also was beautiful about these collections is just to see sort of what can happen in the library to make these collections available to the public, and again I am here as a messanger because most of this work was done by other people in the library, like Gina in preservation building this amazinga boxes to, you know, to try to preserve this as long as we can. They are made with all these kinds of materials like, you know, fluid materials, tree bark and things that [ininteigible] are not the best for, you know, posterity, I would say. So, it's just amazing the work that preservation does. And in the display I think you saw some of the boxes that are made for -- to sort the Vigía books and it's really amazing because the actually build the boxes depending on the shape of the book, and it's amazing, because they -- just, there's so much time and love punt into protecting them, and it's just been wonderful to see that, and -- So they are acid-free boxes that actually Gina would explain to me that they actually buffer and they actually absorb all the acid from the materials so it lasts longer. So that's -- it's really neat to -- this is like a big operation here at the Library of Congress, and then Barbara Dash who is a cataloger of this collection, which has also been fascinating to learn how someone spends all this time describing the material. When people search for these items in our catalog, each book has a catalog worker, and each book has a very unique description. And Barbara is -- does such an amazing job, because it's to -- she describes all the details that are in each edition, and that is, you know, really, you know, time-consuming work, and -- So, we just love this collection here at the library. We wish we had more opportunities like this one to show it, because [ininteligible] that these books, you know, are heading. But, at daylight today it's just great to have them here and I just want to say that we have close to 200 editions at the library and it's really, as Estévez said, it's a beautiful collection and I just wish we had more moments like this where we can bring them out, because it's just such a -- it's such a beauty. And this is one of many other collections that the Library of Congress has, you know, artist's books. So, there're many artit's books, these are books that are again like these works of art, so they're like more, they are more works of art than, you know, than books, but they are just these incredible creations, and these are all housed, and the custodial division is the rare book division, so there're many sorts of [ininteligible] involved in sort of the operation. And -- yeah, so many have come through, you know, people like Ge bringing them, and now we have Luis Reta, who is our vendor, who buys material from Cuba for the Library of Congress. And, so, we hope we can continue to amass this collection, and now collecting El Fortín, which is your new endeavor and it's just so exciting to be able to promote your work and be able to ahow it to the world. So, with that I close and I think if any of you have any questions for the artists, you know, we are -- I think we have a microphone circulating. ^M01:19:19 ^M01:19:21 >> Hi, and thak you, Estévez, gracias. Incredible, it's beautiful. I've arounf three questions. The glue, you know, is there a special glue that will stand for 20, 30 years? And then one for Gina, the archivist or the preservation person, would she have to take photos of every single page? Because heaven forbid if that glue comes loose. And then my third or forth question, and I think I sort of know the answer is, he answered it in his closing comment, like, this is his love, and this is going to sound like a jealous question, but, wow, I would love to -- How do, you know, does he interact like this with the people he loves? You know, a letter to a friend, is that going to have this loving, artistic -- like, when my mother writes to me, she does similar things to this, but -- so, those are the three questions. >> So, the glue or the adhesive, there's a -- ^M01:20:36 ^M01:20:39 The adhesive is of a variety and by keeping materials in the closed boxes, number one, in the dark, and also in a controlled environment, we control the humidity and the temperature, the cooler the temperature, the slower the chemical reaction, and so the adhesive, in fact, will work. Oh, sorry, sorry. So, the adhesive will be preserved for a period of time. One of the other things is when various people go down to Cuba, myself included, we take good adhesive down assured. So, I did that when I went down in the 90s and in the early 2000s, to take adhesive down to enable them to be able to make more of the books. So, I think that answers both of the questions. The first two. ^M01:21:41 >> [Ininteligible] does he write? >> But that's, that I leave. ^M01:21:44 [ Risas ] ^M01:21:46 >> Ruth Behar: Hizo una pregunta con respecto más sobre el pegamento y con el modo de conservación. Pero después hizo una pregunta sobre el amor que tú tienes por los libros y cómo tú muestras este amor con tu familia o como [ininteligible] una pregunta más espiritual. O sea, si quieres decir algo más. >> Rolando Estévez: ¿Exactamente? >> Ruth Behar: So, you want to know, we're trying to truly unpack the question. So, you wanted to connect the love that he has for bookmaking with other kinds of love. >> Does he interact with his family, friends, in the same way he does his art? It's apparent, when he -- when you gave him the paint set, many years he gave it back as art. I guess by -- it's kind of a figurative question. You know, does he interact a hundred percent as the artist with everyone he interacts with? Like, he would have hundreds of people wanting to be his friend. They would be like, "Write me a letter. I love you. This is art. You know, just to touch or be near is art." >> Ruth Behar: Que si tú traes todas estas formas con todos tus amigos y seres queridos, porque has hecho unos libros bellos, por ejemplo, conmigo, porque todo el mundo va a querer ser tu amigo. ^M01:23:11 [ Risa ] ^M01:23:14 >> Rolando Estévez: La cosa está en -- la expresión de un artista es -- o sea, tiene que salir del interior. Ahí nada más está todo. Y cuando tú combinas lo que está aquí en tu energía con lo que está en tu cerebro y convocas al acto intelectual y al acto emocional, ahí ya todo se hace -- se condensa, ¿no? ¿Entiendes? >> Ruth Behar: Sí. So, the energy has to come from inside and that's always kind of a combination of feelings, and intellectual concepts, and all of that kind of gets condensed into artistic expression. >> Rolando Estévez: Y esto que decía de la comunicación con los autores, a veces, tiene que ser hasta un poco espiritista, porque hasta con los Muertos, tú logras crear a través de lo que han escrito, lo que te han dicho, saber de ellos, yo me he preguntado muchas veces: "¿Le gustaría este libro a Frida Kahlo? ¿Le gustaría? ¿Le hubiera gustado? ¿Le gustará?" Si está en alguna parte. >> Ruth Behar: So, it's a deep communication with the person that you are writing about, the author of a text, and it might be Frida Kahlo, who is no longer alive and he asks himself, "Would Frida like this book?" So, this kind of this very deep communication that goes on between himself as a maker of artist's books and then the author of the work that he's writing about and finding that kind of deep level of communication. Yeah. ^M01:24:46 ^M01:24:47 >> Marie Arana: I want to thank all of you for this wonderful presentation, but what a great review to the artist's inspiration, the love between friends, the extraordinary imagination that takes to make these works of art. We're very, very lucky to have you, Rolando Estévez, with us today, and Ruth, what a marvelous interlocutory you are. Thank you very much. Catalina, we're so grateful for keeping these books for us and for future generations, for posterity. Thank you so much for coming. And take another peek at the books in the back. Thank you very much again. ^M01:25:26 [ Aplausos ] ^M01:25:28 >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.