Juan Tomás Ãvila Laurel
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel ( born November 6, 1966 in Malabo ) is a writer and poet from Equatorial Guinea.
Life and work
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel was born on November 6, 1966 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. His parents, Manuel Ávila Fernández and Luisa Laurel Bizantino are Spanish settlers from the island of Annobón. Up to the age of 13 Laurel lived on Annobón. The story " Arde el Monte de Noche " (By Night the Mountain Burns) based on his memories of that time. Laurel graduated from high school in Malabo and has completed training as a nurse.
Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel writes poetry, novels and essays, and is editor of the newspaper El Patio. He is one of the leading exponents of the new literary movement in Equatorial Guinea, a generation of young writers whose work has appeared first since 1990. His work is characterized by intense criticism of the political situation in his native Equatorial Guinea, as well as in Africa.
In his blogs Laurel attacks the dictatorial government of his country. In 2011 he got into international headlines with his hunger strike in protest against the dictatorial regime of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and the "hopeless and disturbing social, economic and political situation " in Equatorial Guinea. On the basis of this protest, he was forced to leave the country. He now lives in exile in Barcelona.