Prepárense, Here comes Orlando! aka @OLPL

What follows is the bio of Cuban photographer, writer, magazine editor, and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo.  A close associate of Yoani Sánchez, Orlando will be arriving in the U.S. later this week New York City this afternoon! and visiting universities all across the eastern seaboard.  He will also participate at the New School/NYU symposium on digital culture and the public sphere in Cuba "The Revolution Recodified" from March 15-17 in NYC.

You can read an interview that Claudia Cadelo did with him a few years ago here, and watch a three-part video interview that the journalist Tracey Eaton did with him here (same videos with English subtitles here).

Let me know if you want him to blow your student's minds (or hire him to do a photo shoot or recite his bilingual updated version of Allen Ginsburg's Howl)!

Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo was born in Havana, Cuba, in December 1971. He resides in Cuba. He is a self-taught photographer, writer, and social/cyber activist.

He graduated in Biochemistry from the School of Biology, University of Havana, in 1994 and worked as a molecular biologist in DNA-recombinant techniques in the Human Vaccines Division, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), Havana, from 1994 to 1999. (That's no lie!)

He was the editor of the cultural magazine EXTRAMUROS, for the Book and Literature Center (CPLLCH), Havana (2001-2005). He has also edited several independent Cuban digital magazines including Cacharro(s) (2003-2005), The Revolution Evening Post (2006-2008), and Voces (2010- ). 

He blogs at LUNES DE POST-REVOLUCIÓN, an opinion webpage, and on the photoblog BORING HOME UTOPICS. He also organized PAÍS DE PÍXELES, the first free-lance photodocumentary contest in Cuba in 2011 and 2012.

In Cuba he has won several national literary prizes including the Pinos Nuevos Prize 2000, the Luis Felipe Rodríguez Prize (2004), the Calendario Prize (2005), and La Gaceta de Cuba Prize (2005). 

He is the author of 5 short-story collections: COLLAGE KARAOKE (Letras Cubanas, La Habana 2001); EMPEZAR DE CERO (Extramuros, La Habana 2001); IPATRÍAS (Unicornio, La Habana 2005); MI NOMBRE ES WILLIAM SAROYAN (Abril, La Habana 2006); and BORING HOME (Garamond, Praga 2009).

As a fiction writer and columnist he has collaborated on multiple editorial projects including PENÚLTIMOS DÍAS (2008 - ongoing); CUBAENCUENTRO (2009); REVISTA ENCUENTRO DE LA CULTURA CUBANA (2008-2010); IN THESE TIMES; ALL VOICES (2009-2010); DIARIO DE CUBA (2010-ongoing ); AMERICAS SOCIETY REVIEW 82/2010; SAMPSONIA WAY (2012-ongoing); CRONOPIO (2011).

His photographs have appeared in many national and international media: ESQUIFE (Cuba); EL CAIMÁN BARBUDO (Cuba); LETRAS LIBRES; articles and blog posts of Yoani Sánchez (ongoing) and of José Manuel Prieto (2011); THE ROOT (and here) in a dossier about racism in Cuba by Achy Obejas (2010); COURRIER INTERNATIONAL; and VEJA (Brasil, 2010).