Nicolás Guillén

Nicolás Guillén was a Cuban poet and journalist whose verse fused the rhythms of son with Spanish poetic forms to foreground Afro-Cuban life and culture. His major collections include *Motivos de son* (1930), *Sóngoro cosongo* (1931), and *El gran zoo* (1967). Named Cuba’s National Poet, he also participated in political journalism and public cultural life before his death in Havana in 1989.