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Cuban poet Carilda Oliver: 85 years old
Carilda came to life on July 6, 1922 out of the love between Caridad Labra and doctor Pedro Oliver, both Matanzas natives just as their darling daughter.

She told me once her parents heard a young man calling out on his girlfriend "¡Carilda, Carilda!", and because they liked it they decided to name as such their first daughter.

Since her early chilhood, Carilda was a true poetess. She was the National Poet Prize winner in 1950 for Al sur de mi garganta. " what a great start" as Cintio Vitier termed he writer's very first book of poems. He himself courted her to receive the National Literature Prize winner in 1997.

10 years after being awarded Carilda Oliver is here celebrating her 85th birthday; "its a fearsome age that restrains to undertake some things", said the laureate with a splendid smile.

Busy checking her personal documents and poems "because not everything can be published ", the author visibly nervous received the news of her birthday celebration at Teatro Sauto: "I dont think its right just a few days after the death of Digdora Alonso. It felt bad: she as also a poetess, 1 year older than me. However, I accepted the invitation because its the Sauto Theatre, which I love above all. Shortly after getting married my parents went to that theatre to see Caruso and other big names. they were the ones who cultivated my passion for the theatre and this evening I feel I am obliged to them".

The gala honouring the author of Canto a Matanzas, will feature the screening of Manuel Jorge's documentary film Memoria de la fiebre. Its the title of one of Carilda's successful poems written between the 40s and 50s.

The footage shows an interview with Carilda at her house of Tirry 81 and tries not to type-cast her as an erotic, daring woman by enhancing her sensibility, naïveté and refinement".

Its a sort of film memory consisting of seven poems - two are heard in this womans marvellous poetic voice and the rest are recited by the actress Ofelia Blanco- while Rosario Cárdenas Ballets dancers will act them out with choreography by Xenia Cruz and music by pianist Ulises Hernández. Some of the external locations chosen are the Castillo de San Severino, Ermita de Monserrate, El Morrillo and the spectacular platform over Canímar river and photography by Rigoberto Senarega, whose lens ran thoughtout the territory because " making a film on Carilda is making a film on Matanzas".

To the premier famous artists Rosita Fornés and her daughter Rosa Ma. Medel, guitarist Ildefonso Acosta, Danza Espiral Group and singers of the Lírico Nacional are invited.

So much expressions of love and admiration make her feel embarrassed: "I cannot write as I did before but I cant help experiencing what is still granted to me: Walking along Tirry avenue, where my parents used to take me out. Meeting my friends of Sauto is a big gift that I cant reject. Life does not stop being generous to me at 85".

Source: By Amarilys Ribot, CubaSi

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