Damaris Calderón

Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1967, and a graduate of the Universidad de Habana, Damaris Calderón has lived in Chile since 1995 and received a master’s degree in classical languages and cultures from the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación in Santiago.

A poet, linguist, and storyteller, she is the author of eight books of poetry: Con el terror del equilibrista (1987); Duras aguas del trópico (1992); Guijarros (1994; 2d ed., 1997); Babosas: dejando mi propio rastro (1998); Duro de roer (1992; 2d ed., 2005); Se adivina un país (1999); Sílabas (2000; 2d ed., 2001), which garnered the El Mercurio Book Review prize; and Parloteo de Sombra (2004). Her work has been included in anthologies published throughout the Spanish-speaking world as well as in the United States, and has been translated into English, Portuguese, Dutch, French, and Serbo-Croation. She has also edited an anthology of contemporary Cuban poetry entitled Cercados por las aguas. Chile’s Fondo del Libro y la Lectura has supported her work with three grants.

Damaris Calderón teaches at the Universidad Finis Terrae in Chile, conducts workshops in creative writing, and is a member of the Society of Chilean Writers and of Chile’s Society of Classical Studies.