Laura Ruiz Montes was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1966. The city is deeply embedded in her DNA and she is a cultural reference there and beyond. Senior editor at Ediciones Vigía, Matanzas' unique and highly successful publisher of handmade limited edition books, Ruiz Montes is also a much sought-after feminist critic and philosopher of contemporary Cuban life and literature as well as an authority on the tragedy and resistance of Black women in the francophone Caribbean. She has several poetry collections, most recently Otro retorno al país natal and Los frutos ácidos, both of which won Cuba's National Critic's Prize for the best book of poetry published in its respective year. Her voice is lyrical but direct, and reflects Cuba's complex reality in all its subtle nuances.