Writer Elena Sheppard ’09 was raised on her grandparents’ stories of the idyllic home they loved in Cuba — before they were forced to flee in 1960 following Fidel Castro’s rise to power in 1959. In her new book due out in September, The Eternal Forest, Sheppard, who studied English at Princeton and earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, weaves her grandparents’ stories and her own experiences into a memoir that takes readers through the Cuban Revolution. She explores how trauma can be passed down through generations, along with the love a family keeps for its homeland.
PAW asked Sheppard to recommend three books for readers to learn about Cuba, and she suggested these:
In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd
By Ana Menéndez
I initially read this short story collection as a teenager, and it was the first time I truly remember seeing the Cuban diaspora on the page in a way that reminded me of my own family. This collection takes place in Miami and Cuba, and it features linked stories about the Cuban-American experience and the elusive island we all seem to carry on our backs. It captures a longing I’ve always felt for Cuba and pairs that longing with language that swirls you up in its beauty.
By Ada Ferrer, professor of history
Current Princeton students are so lucky for the opportunity to learn from Ada Ferrer. This book of hers, a history of Cuba from pre-colonialism to the 21st century, is masterfully rich and complete, not to mention beautifully researched and written. As I wrote my own book, I used Ferrer’s book again and again for historical context and reference. It still sits on my desk today and is definitely not going anywhere anytime soon.
By Wendy Guerra (translated by Achy Obejas)
Guerra is a contemporary Cuban writer whose genre-bending work never fails to blow my mind — it’s fiction, but is it? Revolution Sunday tells the story of a successful poet in Havana who is being relentlessly surveilled and censored by the Cuban government because of her history and her work. Guerra herself is no stranger to surveillance or censorship, not to mention literary success.
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