Librería Ireti, Havana, Cuba

Reading this testimonial biography is like traveling through time, guided by the profound life experience of María de los Reyes Castillo, or simply Reyita, a Black woman who witnessed the birth of the Cuban republic, lived through the revolution, while confronting the afterlives of slavery. The book was written by her daughter, Daisy Rubiera, one of the great writers and wisdom keepers of Cuba’s antiracist movement, also known as one of the Ceibas Vivas.

Georgina Herrera is one of Cuba’s great yet underrecognized Black poets. Calling herself a cimarrona (maroon), she used poetry and prose to heal the wounds of racial exclusion. This collection, or Complete Poetry, brings together her extensive poetic production, weaving memory, resistance, and a deep connection to her African ancestrality.

Written by professsor Olga García Yero and published by Ediciones ICAIC (the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry), this essay pays tribute to Sara Gómez, the first Black woman filmmaker to graduate from ICAIC. Her work aesthetically explored the interseccions of racialization, gender roles, and class conflict, while foregrounding the African legacy as a central component of Cuban culture. García Yero offers a detailed look at Gómez pioneering documentaries and her only feature-length fiction film, showing how her cinema was as groundbreaking as it was visionary.

The result of a decade of research conducted by Furé Davis, this sociocultural study traces the arrival, development, and rise of the Rastafari movement on the island. With a special focus on reggae as an expressive force of Rastafari culture and spirituality in the Cuban context, the book also includes a glossary of Cuban Rastafari terms and an unique dataset, called Rastadata, drawn from interviews with members of the community.