Dulce María Loynaz

Dulce María was born in Havana, Cuba on December 10, 1902, to a family of great sensibility towards artistic and cultural manifestations and deep patriotic feelings.

Although Loynaz had a sheltered childhood, her early adulthood was much more adventurous, including experiences available at that time only to wealthy young women, even outside of Cuba.

Loynaz also visited Mexico in 1937 and various countries in South America from 1946 to 1947, and the Canary Islands in 1947 and 1951 where she as declared adoptive daughter.

Loynaz began writing Jardin in 1928 and completed the novel in 1935, shortly after Cuban women obtained the right to vote.

During these years, she participated in conferences, gave speeches, and received prizes and awards bestowed by different Cuban cultural institutions.

In a situation such as Cuba's over the past 40 years, it is not surprising that a person as private in temperament as Dulce María Loynaz would seclude herself, or that her public statements have always been extremely discreet, patriotic, and yet non-political.

The discovery of her work by a large and enthusiastic audience in her home country when she was in her 80s, really for the first time and after more than 25 years of internal exile, must have been like the return of the dove in her poem, “Noah,” carrying the green branch that signifies a safe harbor.