| 01/01/2021 – 17:56 (GMT-4)
The narrator, poet, journalist, translator and literary critic Germán Piniella Sardiñas died this Saturday in Havana, at the age of 86, from causes not yet revealed.
Author of at least four books, including the novel A touch of melancholy (Edicions Unió, 2013) and the approach to the culinary tradition Eating with Doña Lita (Art and Literature, 2010), Piniella Sardiñas worked as a contributor to magazines House of the Americas, the Gazette of Cuba, Bohemia, The Bearded Cayman i the Jiribilla. He also served as associate editor of the bilingual magazine Weekly progress.
In 1970, Piniella Sardiñas wrote alongside the poet and dissident Raúl Rivero the anthology Starting point, A collection of texts belonging to young narrators and poets of the island published by the publishing house Ploma a la mà.
Piniella Sardiñas was the eldest son of the famous driver, actor and announcer of Cuban radio and television, Germán Pinelli; brother of the Miami-based composer, producer and show director, Tony Pinelli and uncle of two of the musicians of The Three of Havana, Germa’n and Ari. The difference in surname between them is due to the fact that Germán father, Cuban but son of Asturian emigrants, changed it to Pinelli in order to make it more commercial for radio and television.
On the social network Facebook, the Cuban writer and journalist Rafael Grillo lamented his loss and said goodbye to him with heartfelt words: “Friend, Germán Piniella Sardiñas, more than goodbye 1 forever. Meet you, hug you affection, even in a short but very sincere friendship, is unforgettable.Your passion, the enthusiasm to create, the way to face destiny without renouncing the enjoyment of life is a teaching that I leave “.
“And to your dear Amelia Rodríguez, adorable woman, with you and with everyone, I convey my encouragement and affection. May this novel you were working on and of which I was able to read something, see the light “May your light continue. With a touch of melancholy, Juliette Massip and I said goodbye,” Grillo concluded.
His death joins the list of losses that in the field of artistic creation, journalism, cinema and entertainment has suffered the Caribbean nation in recent months, including: singer Farah Maria, actress Broselianda Hernandez, the young and prominent filmmaker Diana Montero, director and film critic Enric Pujol, visual artist Pere de Oraá, star Rosita Fornés, historian Eusebio Leal, journalist Hugo J. Byrne, cartoon producer Paco Prats and writer Sigfredo Ariel , others.