Jorge Olivera Castillo

City of Asylum Fellow | Summer 2021

About Jorge

Jorge Olivera Castillo is a poet, writer, television editor, journalist, and songwriter.

For more than twenty-five years, Olivera Castillo worked as an independent journalist before being fired from The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, due to his ideas and activities in support of freedom of speech. He became a political prisoner because of his journalistic work, and was incarcerated for almost two years, including nine months of solitary confinement. Olivera Castillo has published six books of poetry and two short story collections. His literary works have been translated into several languages, including english, Italian, Czech and Polish.

At present, Olivera Castillo is writing his third collection of short stories, based on his experiences as a soldier in the African jungle during the Angolan Civil War. He has also completed a new collection of poetry and publication is forthcoming.