Olga Karman Olga Karman, teacher, poet and memoirist, was born in Havana in 1940 of Cuban and American parents. She was a student at the University of Santo Tomás de Villanueva, a private Catholic institution in Havana, when Fidel Castro’s regime came to power in 1959. At first Olga sympathized with the aims of the revolution; she worked as a hospital volunteer tending Rebel Army soldiers who had been wounded in the fighting. But when Castro cancelled elections and built his one-person rule, Olga decided to leave Cuba; in 1960 she moved to the United States to marry her American fiancé. Living in rural Connecticut, and finding herself in a bad marriage, Olga gained her personal independence by enrolling at Connecticut College, from which she graduated in 1966 summa cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She entered Harvard University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, winning her Ph.D. in Spanish language & literature. She moved to Buffalo, New York, and taught high-school Spanish before landing a position at D'Youville College. Olga has now been a professor of Spanish language & literature at D'Youville for more than two decades; she also serves as the college’s director of community affairs. In 1997—after an exile of 37 years and a prolonged anguish over her Cuban identity—Olga made a momentous return visit to her native city of Havana. These experiences form the material for her memoir, which she composed over a period of seven years. The book has been warmly received in Buffalo and elsewhere. In advance of Miami’s 2006 book fair, which is America’s premier literary festival, The Miami Herald accorded major coverage to Scatter My Ashes Over Havana and its author. In Buffalo, NPR broadcaster Sarah Campbell said of Olga’s narrative: “Like the best writers of exile, she sees with the eye of the foreigner and the local simultaneously; a little like seeing an aerial view of the city from the ground.” On the book’s official publication date, Mayor Byron Brown proclaimed “Olga Karman Day” in the City of Buffalo, and U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY) entered a tribute to Olga into the Congressional Record. Apart from , Olga has published two volumes of poetry. Her poems have also appeared in The Nation, The New Republic and numerous anthologies. Her verse has been set in tile in Buffalo’s subway system, and she has a distinctive standing in the literary and civic life of her city. Olga has a grown daughter and son, and five grandsons. |
Scatter My Ashes Over Havana
Synopsis: Olga Karman’s exceptional memoir, , is off to a running start with exceptional tributes as well as with strong sales in New England and New York. In the author’s hometown of Buffalo, reviewers and commentators have been offering generous praise for the edition, while Mayor Byron Brown proclaimed September 21, 2006 “Olga Karman Day” in the City of Buffalo. On that day, (published by Pureplay Press of Los Angeles) had its official début: Olga Karman read from the book at Buffalo’s D’Youville College, where she has taught Spanish language & literature for more than 20 years. Also that day, U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY) entered a tribute to Olga into the Congressional Record. Throughout the fall and early winter of 2006-7, Olga has been bringing the book to campuses and book festivals in New York City, Miami and the Midwest. With its evocative descriptions of Cuba, has moved to the center of reader interest due to the recent unfolding of dramatic events in that country. But while set against broader historical currents, her saga is intensely personal; in Olga’s own words, “the story of a young woman who leaves Havana for the United States in 1960, almost two years after the revolution. She is twenty years old and headed for a disastrous marriage.” is a book about exile and immigration, about the search for identity in a new land, and about a woman’s hard work in making a life for herself and her children. It has powerful scenes of revolution in Cuba, of the student rebellion at Harvard University and of social upheaval in the United States during the 1960’s. It shows the fight of Hispanic peoples for social and political recognition in Buffalo, a city that receives an especially colorful and sympathetic portrayal in this book. Finally, portrays the tremendous drama of returning home. Contrary to popular wisdom, Olga Karman discovers that going home again is a necessary personal act—and as difficult as the encounter might be, it gives us perhaps our best chance to come to terms with ourselves. |