Dariel Suarez was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. He lived there until 1997, when he immigrated to the United States. He’s the author of the chapbook In the Land of Tropical Martyrs, upcoming from Backbone Press. It is available for pre-order until November 20th. You should get it.

Writer Michael Hettich notes, “Though In the Land of Tropical Martyrs is a chapbook, it has the heft and authority of a full volume of poetry. Each of these poems is rich with the ache of urgent memory, living memory, memory that sings as the opposite of nostalgia and wakes us more fully to our own lives.”

“With sure, unassuming craft, Dariel Suarez creates narratives that resonate like actual experiences, lingering in the mind and heart as though they were our own personal memories.” ~Michael Hettich, author of Systems of Vanishing and The Animals Beyond Us

Dariel earned his M.F.A. in fiction at Boston University. “After coming to Boston and taking graduate courses with aspiring poets, I learned to see poetry as an experience, as something that involves the senses in search of genuine thought and emotion,” Dariel says. “Also, Boston University’s MFA program allowed me to visit Europe for the first time in my life, and many of my most recent poems were inspired by these travels.”

Dariel is one of the founding editors of Middle Gray Magazine. He has taught creative writing at Boston University, the Boston Arts Academy, and Boston University’s Metropolitan College, and his writing has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous journals and magazines, including Michigan Quarterly Review, Prairie Schooner, The Florida Review, Southern Humanities Review, and The Caribbean Writer, as well as several anthologies.

Dariel has recently finished a short story collection set in Cuba, titled A Kind of Solitude, and he’s at work on a novel about a Cuban political prisoner, titled The Playwright’s House.

“I read poetry every week, often before I sit down to write fiction. It focuses my mind on the economy and precision of evocative language. It also provides a shot of energy, especially when I come across a wonderful line.”

I asked Dariel: “How do you choose between poetry or fiction for a particular piece?”

His answer: “I identify myself primarily as a fiction writer. Before I sit down to write a story or novel, I’ve already explored the characters and plot in my mind. I usually have an ending in place, even if it changes in the process. Poetry is a more organic experience for me. It might spring from a line, an image, a seemingly simple idea.

“I see fiction as a sprawling act, with many characters, settings, plots and subplots. Poetry is much more focused and concise, which has its own challenges, because precision of language becomes paramount. When stories or poems come out right, however, they’re equally enjoyable and satisfying.”

Dariel will be reading on November 18th, 8pm, at the Boston Playwright’s Theatre as part of the Writers at the Black Box event.