Cultural activist extraordinaire, Desiderio Navarro is esteemed as a thinker, writer, editor, translator and cultural organiser who has dedicated a lifetime to the stimulation and development of intellectual thought and analysis. For 37 years he has edited and produced one of the world’s outstanding journals, Criterios, which collects important critical essays on aesthetics and the theories of literature, arts and culture. Navarro translates from 15 languages to make their content accessible to Cuban and other Spanish-speaking populations. Unique in its pluralist approach and broad scope, Criterios has published more than 300 texts by 197 distinguished authors from 30 countries. Navarro writes sharp, timely and erudite essays that influence leaders in the arts. He is the editor of 18 anthologies and multi-author volumes, and recently produced a CD of “1001 texts” for students, distributed free to 100 institutions in Cuba.
He single-handedly runs the Criterios Centr, its substantial library and its popular seminars and debates that feature international speakers. An outspoken defender of freedom of expression, in 2007 Navarro provoked a heated online debate on censorship and organised a series of lectures on the repercussions of 1970s repression on contemporary Cuban society. He has recently extended the centre’s activities beyond Havana, giving lectures and launching publications in other Cuban cities. Navarro participates in international cultural conferences and was the organiser of the groundbreaking 1st National Meeting on the Theory of the Visual Arts held in Caracas in 1992.
Desiderio Navarro is honoured for his passionate dedication to the diffusion of critical intellectual knowledge on cultural theories, for his insightful writing and analysis, and for his outstanding contributions to freedom of expression and cultural development in Cuba.
Desiderio Navarro at the presentation of his publication 'Las causas de las cosas'
Covers of Criterios
www.criterios.es
http://ipsnews.net
2009