2008 Alfaguara Prize Winner “Chiquita” Launched in Santo Domingo

The Alfaguara Publishers will launch this year´s prize winning novel “Chiquita” by Cuban writer Orlando Rodríguez. The book launch, scheduled for September 19, will be held in the Pedro Mir Hall of the Cuesta Bookshop starting at 6:30 p.m. The book introduction and presentation will be done by Dominican writer Matio Morrison.

“Chiquita” is put together like an autobiography dictated by an aging journalist who tries to distinguish between the truth and exaggeration of every little detail.

Speaking about his book, “Chiquita,” Orlando Rodríguez said: “In writing this book I was faced with a task that involved researching the life of Espiridiona Cenda, the Lilliputian Cuban known as ´the Living Doll,´ who emigrated from her country in 1896 as an unknown and went on to conquer audiences all over the United States as a singer and dancer. Nevertheless, I only used a part of this information because I was writing a novel and not a biography. Therefore my book is a novel that takes an historical truth and transforms it and enriches it with fantasy, absurdity and farcical humor.”

“Chiquita” is put together like an autobiography dictated by an aging journalist who tries to distinguish between the truth and exaggeration of every little detail. He begins with Chiquita´s childhood in Matanzas, Cuba during slavery and the colonial period then on to her youth, to her performances on the most important stages of the United States and Europe all with the Cuban war for independence going on in the background.

The author said that his protagonist “brings together everything one expects of a heroine: personality, warmth, magnetism. She is an intelligent and brave woman in the body of a creature of only 26 inches.” Chiquita had to fight for her dignity and the dignity of her art in that she did not want to be relegated to being a sideshow in a circus.

Antonio Orlando Rodríguez (1956) holds a degree in journalism from the University of Havana. He has lived in Costa Rican, Colombia and currently resides in the United States.

He wrote the novel “Aprendices de brujo” (“The Last Masquerade”) as well as a book of short stories and a play. He has done extensive literary research and has written numerous stories for children.

“Chiquita,” 550 pages, costs 725 pesos and is available at Dominican bookstores.