Clara Luz Niggemann (d.2000) was a poet. She was born in Cuba in 1910 to Enrique and Amelia Niggemann. She lived in Camagüey but later moved to the U.S.
In Cuba, she mentored the writer Severo Sarduy and published his first poems in the newspaper that she was involved with, El Camagüeyano. She and Sarduy called them the "Krishnamurtian ballads."
Her book of poetry, Remolino de fuego: Poemas, was published in 1980 by Ediciones Rondas. Another collection entitled “En este andar febril” was published in 1990 by Indiana University Press. Another of her works, “En la puerta dorada” was published by Valencia. Her poetry was featured in many journals, including Revista Norte and in anthologies such as Poesía cubana contemporánea published by la editorial Catoblepas de Madrid in 1986, and Antología de la poesía cósmica cubana published by Fredo Arias de la Canal pública in México. An essay about her work, “Mágica presencia poética de Clara Niggemann,” was written by Gloria Vega de Alba, and published by Grupo de los 9 (Uruguay) in 1986.
David Unger (1950-) is a NYC-based writer and translator from Guatemala. In 2014, he received the Miguel Angel Asturias National Literature Prize for lifetime achievement from Guatemala. He authored the novels The Price of Escape; Para Mi, Eres Divina; Ni chicha, ni limonada; and Life in the Damn Tropics, which have been translated in multiple languages. For example, his 2016 novel called The Mastermind was translated in Italian, Turkish, Polish, and Arabic.
In addition to novels, he wrote many short stories featured in literary journals and anthologies in the United States and other countries. His stories were also published in magazines, such as Playboy Mexico, Guernica Magazine, and The Paris Review. In 2020, Unger published a children’s book entitled Sleeping with the Light On in homage to his parents, who had emigrated with him in 1955 – a year after a coup d’état overthrew Guatemala’s president Jacobo Arbenz. The book narrates how Luis and Fortuna protected young David from the harsh days of political turmoil and migration, envisioning how children could find a safe space in their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unger has developed a vast oeuvre as a translator for other work, such as those of Teresa Cárdenas, Rigoberta Menchú, Ana Maria Machado, Silvia Molina Elena Garro, Bárbara Jacobs, Nicanor Parra, and even the Popol Vuh, a mythological creation account from pre-Columbian Guatemala.
Unger currently teaches translation in the MFA Program of The City College of New York CUNY and lives in Brooklyn.
–Vanessa Rodrigues Barcelos da Silva Graduate Student Assistant for Manuscripts and Archives Management, Summer 2024
Naomi Fisher is a well-known Miami artist, who was born in 1976. She graduated with a BFA in Photography from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She had artistic residencies around the world, including at Rogaland Kunstsenter and Kunstkvarteret Lofoten in Norway, and at Cerámica Suro in Guadalajara, Mexico. Fisher also created a residency program called “Heat Exchange: Art and Infrastructure from the Tropics to the Arctic," to sponsor artistic and research exchanges for new artists in Miami and Norway who are pursuing the arts with the purpose of provoking social change.
In her creations, Fisher engages with different mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, video, and public installations. These works are inspired by mythological, surrealist, and feminist themes in contrast with traditional tropes of art, architecture, and femininity. Today, her work is part of the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Art Boston, among famous collections.
Fisher has also had a long-term professional as well as personal relationship with the city of Miami, having her works reproduced at local galleries, the Art Basel, and at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. She was recently commissioned for the design of public art by Codina Partners, a real estate firm in Coral Gables.
Moreover, Fisher is the co-founder and current director and curator of the gallery and non-profit organization BFI (Bas Fisher Invitational), in Miami Design District. BFI is part of the Waterproof Miami initiative, gathering artists engaged with raising awareness about environmental issues that threaten Miami and South Florida. She is currently actively present on social media to share her creations and initiatives to foster the arts in South Florida and the work of local new artists.
–Vanessa Rodrigues Barcelos da Silva Graduate Student Assistant for Manuscripts and Archives Management, Summer 2024
