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"I would have preferred to be a good baseball player than a writer"

Leonardo Padura

Birkenstory #33

LEONARDO PADURA – BEST-SELLING AUTHOR FROM CUBA

Leonardo Padura is one of the best-known Hispanic writers in the world. The author of some thirty books, who resides and works in Havana in the house where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather once lived, was awarded the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award in 2015, the first South American author to do so in two decades. His detective novels have been translated into more than 30 languages. Despite his success, this writer, who never leaves his Arizonas when in Cuba, has not achieved his lifelong dream: to become a professional baseball player.

The vanished dreams of children sometimes reveal hidden and unsuspected talents. Leonardo Padura never misses an opportunity to watch young people hitting balls with their bats on the baseball field of his childhood. When asked what profession he would have liked to have, the famous Cuban novelist repeats the same words he could have said in short pants: "I would have preferred to be a good baseball player than a writer", he claims. "I am an absolute lover of this sport that has accompanied me practically since my birth. Until the age of 18, I spent most of my time playing. On a field, I feel like I am truly myself. That's why even today, I go to see matches whenever I have the chance." Although he still dreams of becoming a baseball star in "his next life," as he says, Leonardo realized during his secondary studies at the Instituto Preuniversitario de La Víbora that his passion would not make up for his lack of talent.

"When I realized that I would never become a professional player, I decided to be a sports journalist," he explains. "I wanted to study journalism, but the school closed the year I was due to start classes. That's why I ended up studying literature." On the university benches, his thirst for winning, learnt on the baseball diamond, quickly awakened. "During my studies, I discovered that some of my classmates were writing short stories and poems," he recalls. "I had never thought about writing before, but my competitive spirit, which took shape in baseball, encouraged me to write. I told myself that if other students could do it, I could do it too."

The vanished dreams of children sometimes reveal hidden and unsuspected talents. Leonardo Padura never misses an opportunity to watch young people hitting balls with their bats on the baseball field of his childhood. When asked what profession he would have liked to have, the famous Cuban novelist repeats the same words he could have said in short pants: "I would have preferred to be a good baseball player than a writer", he claims. "I am an absolute lover of this sport that has accompanied me practically since my birth. Until the age of 18, I spent most of my time playing. On a field, I feel like I am truly myself. That's why even today, I go to see matches whenever I have the chance." Although he still dreams of becoming a baseball star in "his next life," as he says, Leonardo realized during his secondary studies at the Instituto Preuniversitario de La Víbora that his passion would not make up for his lack of talent.

"When I realized that I would never become a professional player, I decided to be a sports journalist," he explains. "I wanted to study journalism, but the school closed the year I was due to start classes. That's why I ended up studying literature." On the university benches, his thirst for winning, learnt on the baseball diamond, quickly awakened. "During my studies, I discovered that some of my classmates were writing short stories and poems," he recalls. "I had never thought about writing before, but my competitive spirit, which took shape in baseball, encouraged me to write. I told myself that if other students could do it, I could do it too."

His family did not predispose him to embark on literature. His father had sold his small business in Havana to work at the Mantilla bus station, and his mother was a housewife. "There were very few books in our house," he admits. "I think there were eight or ten books, a Bible, as in almost all homes, a few volumes of the old Reader's Digest Selections, and some works on Freemasonry, because my father was a Freemason. The children weren't allowed to touch them."

In the early 80s, Leonardo had a revelation when he devoured Truman Capote's novel "Breakfast at Tiffany's". "When I read that book, I said to myself: This is exactly what I want to do. I want to penetrate into the very essence of the characters. This desire inspired me to write my first novel. I was still very young and did not yet have the tools to be an accomplished creative writer, but I did my best".

His family did not predispose him to embark on literature. His father had sold his small business in Havana to work at the Mantilla bus station, and his mother was a housewife. "There were very few books in our house," he admits. "I think there were eight or ten books, a Bible, as in almost all homes, a few volumes of the old Reader's Digest Selections, and some works on Freemasonry, because my father was a Freemason. The children weren't allowed to touch them."

In the early 80s, Leonardo had a revelation when he devoured Truman Capote's novel "Breakfast at Tiffany's". "When I read that book, I said to myself: This is exactly what I want to do. I want to penetrate into the very essence of the characters. This desire inspired me to write my first novel. I was still very young and did not yet have the tools to be an accomplished creative writer, but I did my best".

Very quickly, the budding author worked for a cultural magazine, and became a literary and theatre critic. After three years, a newspaper recruited him to become a reporter. "That's when I started doing real journalism by writing the stories of real people," says the writer, who resides with his wife in the house where he was born and where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather lived before him. The working conditions for journalists in Cuba, however, quickly dampened his ambitions. "Reporting in this country is very difficult," explains Padura. "The news agencies and newspapers that are officially in circulation all belong to the state, the government, or the Communist Party, and they follow the editorial line of these institutions. Consequently, there is very little room for non-conformity in these newspapers and magazines. Literature, on the other hand, allows us to address uncomfortable topics that are not socially or politically appropriate. All my work reflects this non-conformity with reality, and I believe that there is not one of my books in which the characters, stories, and processes I describe are not at odds with the official vision of a reality like that of Cuba. The problem is that in my country, publishers also belong to the government and the state. And when you write about subjects that are considered politically incorrect, you may be censored. Fortunately, I don't need to go through a Cuban cultural institution because I have had a publisher in Spain for over 25 years who prints everything I write. This gives me a greater degree of freedom than a writer who publishes in Cuba. »

Behind the desk where he has written all his books, Leonardo Padura follows a very strict routine. "I work here eight months out of the year, from 7.15 a.m. to 1 p.m., seven days a week. Then I have lunch, take a nap, and clear my head by spending time in my garden. This discipline is one of my strengths, because without it, it is difficult to work for two or three years on a book of 300 or 500 pages. The other prerequisite for a writer is dissatisfaction. The simplest solution is rarely the best in literature. Ernest Hemingway called this critical eye the "bullshit detector". My wife, with whom I have been for over 40 years, describes me as an unbearable perfectionist."

This perfectionism has allowed him to write books that are now praised by critics worldwide. His works have been published in about thirty languages, including Slovenian and Latvian. "I spend about four months a year on promotional tours abroad," says this sea lover. "I plan my calendar very carefully because I want to have periods of at least a month and a half devoted exclusively to writing." Back in Havana in his childhood home, Leonardo Padura returns to his desk and his pair of Birkenstocks. Why change a recipe that works so perfectly?

Behind the desk where he has written all his books, Leonardo Padura follows a very strict routine. "I work here eight months out of the year, from 7.15 a.m. to 1 p.m., seven days a week. Then I have lunch, take a nap, and clear my head by spending time in my garden. This discipline is one of my strengths, because without it, it is difficult to work for two or three years on a book of 300 or 500 pages. The other prerequisite for a writer is dissatisfaction. The simplest solution is rarely the best in literature. Ernest Hemingway called this critical eye the "bullshit detector". My wife, with whom I have been for over 40 years, describes me as an unbearable perfectionist."

This perfectionism has allowed him to write books that are now praised by critics worldwide. His works have been published in about thirty languages, including Slovenian and Latvian. "I spend about four months a year on promotional tours abroad," says this sea lover. "I plan my calendar very carefully because I want to have periods of at least a month and a half devoted exclusively to writing." Back in Havana in his childhood home, Leonardo Padura returns to his desk and his pair of Birkenstocks. Why change a recipe that works so perfectly?