Virgilio Piñera Llera (Cárdenas, Cuba, August 4, 1912 – Havana, October 18, 1979) was a Cuban author, playwright, poet, short story writer, essayist and translator. His most notorious works are the poem La isla en peso (1943), the collection of short stories Cuentos Fríos (1956), the novel La carne de René (1952) and the playwright Electra Garrigó (1959). He is also known for his role in the translation into Spanish of the novel Ferdydurke, by Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. Piñera is one of the most celebrated authors of Cuban literature. His work explores alienation, absurd and madness, featuring characters that often find themselves in ridiculous and grotesque scenarios. He was openly homosexual; however, born into a Christian family, Piñera struggled with guilt and later, after the Cuban Revolution, with the government's ostracism. Nevertheless, Piñera's work was rediscovered by Cuban and Latin American authors such as Severo Sarduy, Víctor Fowler, Rolando Sánchez and Ricardo Piglia. His works were reedited on his 100th centenary and a commission presided by Antón Arrufat organized a colloquium in his honour. Biography Virgilio Piñera was born in Cárdenas, Cuba. In 1925, he and his family moved to Camagüey, where he obtained his high school diploma. In 1938, he established himself in Havana, earning his doctoral degree in philosophy and letters from the University of Havana in 1940. Beginning the previous year, he began to publish his poems in the literary magazine Espuela de plata (Silver Spur), the predecessor to Orígenes. In 1941, he wrote his first collection of poems, Las furias (The Furies), and his best known play, Electra Garrigó. The latter was premiered in Havana eight years later and was poorly received by the press. In 1942, Piñera founded and headed the magazine Poeta (Poet). The following year, he published La isla en peso (The Weight of the Island), subsequently regarded as one of the heights of Cuban literature, but in its time the object of scorn from fellow poets Gastón Baquero, Eliseo Diego, and critics such as Cintio Vitier. Together with José Lezama Lima and José Rodríguez Feo, he founded Orígenes, despite his aesthetic disagreements with them. Among his most notable contributions were a number of poems, an essay titled El secreto de Kafka (The Secret of Kafka), and another essay on Argentine literature. In February 1946, Piñera traveled to Buenos Aires, where he would remain on and off until 1958, working for the