Photo of the Day: Cuban Poet in Key West Juana Borrero (1896)

Juana Borrero Pierra was a Key West poet and painter whose life, though brief, left a lasting mark. She died in Key West in 1896. Born in Havana in 1877 to a family of writers and patriots, she was a true prodigy—publishing poems by age 10 and studying fine arts before most kids learned long division.

In 1895, her family fled Cuba’s war for independence and settled in Key West. Surrounded by fellow exiles and revolutionaries, Juana wrote “Los Proscriptos” (“The Exiles”), a powerful poem about leaving her homeland. It’s raw, lyrical, and full of longing—written just after she arrived.

She died of tuberculosis in Key West in 1896 at only 18. Her grave went unmarked for decades, but her legacy didn’t fade. Today, Juana is remembered as a key figure in Cuban modernist literature, and her work still speaks to themes of exile, identity, and belonging.

See also, the article about her life in Key West in the Literary Arts section in this blog site.