Che in Verse

Tribute to a 20th century icon

Che in Verse is the first collection of poetry and songs about Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentine-Cuban revolutionary who has become an icon of rebellion the world over. It contains 134 poems and songs from 53 countries dedicated to, about, or referring to this martyr of the utopian left. The contributors range from Che's fellow revolutionaries and anti-colonial freedom-fighters to a gay rights activist, a Cistercian monk, and a Cuban prisoner of conscience languishing in a US federal penitentiary.

They include two winners and several nominees of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Several poems and songs in this collection took years to get into print because of the risk of persecution faced by those who wrote them; a number have never before been published; and at least one landed the poet who wrote it in jail.

The book comes with a detailed Introduction examining Che Guevara's own relationship with poetry, analysing the content of the verse reproduced, and making the case that - in poetry at least - comparisons of Che Guevara with figures such as Jesus Christ suggest a search for a universal heroic archetype.

The collection includes biographies of the 135 poets and songwriters and the 30 translators whose work is included.

Che in Verse is to be released on the 40th anniversary of the death of Guevara.

Gavin O'Toole conducted research for Che in Verse under the auspices of the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London, while a Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow.

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Gavin O'Toole is a British journalist and academic. His first two books were Politics Latin America (2007) and the translation of Oswaldo Salazar's From the Darkness (2007).

Georgina Jiménez is a Mexican writer and translator.