AUthor Spolight: Yoe Suarez

 

With our new display on the 5th floor, we are spotlighting an author who is now a part of the AU community: Yoe Suárez

For the summer of 2023, Suárez was Ashland University’s Writer-in-Residence where he worked on a book “about very brave pastors in Cuba who are preaching the good work of the Lord and not putting aside what is happening in Cuba” and “the clash between the Christian ethic and the socialist ethic … to inspire people, letting them know that there are people in Cuba telling the truth.”  He also gave a presentation, “Faith Under Totalitarianism in the 21st Century: Cuba, Freedom and the Church,” on August 2nd in a conversational format with AU President Carlos Campo, whose father came to America from Cuba in 1940. 

Three of the author's books are now a part of our Special Collections, so they are available for AU community members in the future. Let us know if you are interested in checking them out.

A Quick Biography of our Spotlighted Author

Yoe Suárez (1990) is from Havana, Cuba where he was a journalist who has been working with non-state media outlets in Cuba since 2014. He has written and documented the human rights and freedom of religion issues in Cuba, and as a result he and his family have been regularly subjected to intimidation tactics, threats and interrogations by authorities. He, his wife who was also a Cuban journalist, and their son entered the US last summer and have applied for political asylum to stay in the US.

Suárez has published with both English and Spanish media outlets including The Hill, Newsweek, Univision, El Español, and El Espectador. He won the Hypermedia Editorial Reporting Award (USA) 2017 and 2018 and the Gabo Grant for Cultural Journalism 2018. His books have been translated into English and Italian. He produced, wrote and directed documentaries in Cuba, including the feature film Cuba Crucis (2022), about the lack of religious freedom under totalitarianism, filmed clandestinely on the island.

Bibliography

• *No Te Llamas Desierto Testimonio (2015)
• La Otra Isla/The Other Island (2016) -Michael Jacobs Scholarship Finalist, 2016; International Book Latino Award, 2019
• Charles en el mosaico/Charles in the Mosaic (2018)
•  En esta ribera mi cuerpo - Casa de las Américas Award Mention, 2018
• *El Soplo del Demonio: Violencia y Pandillerismo en La Habana/The Breath of the Devil: violence and gangs in Havana (2020)
• *Leviatán: political police and socialist terror (2021) - Iliad Award, 2021

* are the books that are now in the AU collection

Resources:

https://www.ashland.edu/news/political-refugee-and-independent-journalist-describes-life-cuba-crowd-ashland-university