Arts and Literature of Cuba

Spanish literary prize, the

Premio Princesa de Asturias.

Padura is also extremely

popular in his home country.

He’s managed to walk a fine

line: his fiction highlights many

ugly aspects of Cuban society,

and sometimes even expresses

disenchantment with the revo-

lution, but in a sufficiently

circumspect manner to avoid

government censorship.

Born in 1955 in Havana, Padura majored in literature at

college. After graduating, he worked for many years as a

reviewer and journalist for government publications. He wrote

fiction in his spare time. His first novel, a love story titled

Fiebre de caballos

(“Horse Fever”), was published in 1988.

But Padura found his niche with 1991’s

Pasado perfecto

(lit-

erally, “past perfect”; the English translation would be pub-

lished in 2007 as

Havana Blue

). The novel introduced the char-

acter of Mario Conde, a disillusioned police lieutenant (and,

later, private detective) with a drinking problem and lowlife

friends. Padura said he envisioned the character as “a reflec-

tion of the problems and the frustrations of my generation,”

and he wanted his fiction to deal with “the biggest problems of

[Cuban] society: corruption, repression, hypocrisy, ideological

erosion, opportunism, poverty.” That resonated with Cuban

readers, and Padura has published a succession of crime titles

featuring Mario Conde.

Scan here to

see an inter-

view with

Leonardo

Padura:

Educational

Video