Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Born the year of Castro’s revolution, the daughter of a hero of the sugarcane harvest – Che Guevara himself draped a Cuban flag across her mother’s pregnant belly – Yocandra embodies its promise and hope. But she grows up to see how the regime is turning her beautiful island into a wasteland of despair, and embarks on her own course of survival. For Yocandra and her friends, coping with life in Cuba means escaping into dreams, humour, and sex, and developing an appetite for the absurdities of existence. Kindred spirits and lost souls, their rebellion and rage against the regime also expresses their fierce love for their country, a patriotism that can feel like a prison sentence. Zoé Valdés was born in Havana in 1959. She lives in Paris with her daughter.
Original title in Spanish La nada cotidiana published by Emecé Editores (1995)
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Sabina
Cienfuegos
Sabina Cienfuegos is a literary translator best known for translating the acclaimed novel Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada from Spanish to English. Originally written by the prominent Cuban-born author Zoé Valdés, Cienfuegos’s English translation of the book was published in 1997 by Arcade Publishing.
The novel provides a candid, semi-autobiographical critique of life under Cuba’s communist regime. It follows the story of Yocandra (born “Patria” at the start of the 1959 revolution), who navigates a bohemian life of writing, changing lovers, and surviving the machismo of her restrictive society.
Sabina Cienfuegos is a literary translator best known for translating the acclaimed novel Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada from Spanish to English. Originally written by the prominent Cuban-born author Zoé Valdés, Cienfuegos’s English translation of the book was published in 1997 by Arcade Publishing.
The novel provides a candid, semi-autobiographical critique of life under Cuba’s communist regime. It follows the story of Yocandra (born “Patria” at the start of the 1959 revolution), who navigates a bohemian life of writing, changing lovers, and surviving the machismo of her restrictive society.