In his memories, that is to say ''Páginas Vueltas'', Nicolás Guillén was writing the following thought: ''Not only in poetry -it means as poet-, but also as journalist, I was fovored by the fact of having born in a printer, because my father had one and I spent my childhood at it...''

The fact is Don Nicolás`poetical work`s trascendency and popularity -let's call him Don, like we do with Patriarchs and he was in the letters!- keep unveiled this other edge, where he also set the pace for the nice word, readability and honest treatment to Cuban daily issues.

A classical book, Prosa de Prisa in any of its versions -the most complete, having three volumes or the bundled one of only one, both selections in charge of Ángel Augier- give a hint of Guillén`s duty as journalist along half a century. But to his entire compulsively-readable body of work, it's worthy to add some details from his personal curriculum.

Around the 20's, he served as proofreader and later as editor of El Camagüeyano Newspaper. ''It was -Guillén narrates- a perfectly conservative journal, having all characteristics of a rural press, enhanced in a certain way by a higher technical structure, which although not like the Havana`s journals, it was running its highest races''.

If the literary early years ocurred at his natal Camagüey, is in Havana of 1928 where he started to collaborate the very selective and conservative Diario de la Marina, gathering, however, intellectuals interested in diversify the cultural panorama, which opened a space to this talented mulatto writter.

In the dominical section ''Ideales de una raza'', his poems Motivos de Son appeared, together with other journalist issues. One of them, "Conversación con Langston Hughes", still can be consulted at the edition Diario de la Marina, March 9, 1930.

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The Nicolás`job within the journalist sphere is wide, because he was part of the Resumen Magazine`s editor team, published by the Comunist Party, joining also from its very beginnings, the editorial staff of Mediodia, literary marxist-inflected magazine form which he was also its director.

Valuable was endeed his collaboration with Hoy Newspaper since 1938, journal from the Communist Party. Guillén, served here as Informative Chief for a very short time, meanwhile, his works were present also at Bohemia. He also joined the editing staff from Gaceta del Caribe Magazine.

Among the 40th decade he underscores as one of the most popular and favorably-appraised voices by the critic within the poetry, being also a journalist capable to assume any topic, preferably those having a political profile, social critic, defense of the black race`s rights and of course, cultural issues.

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If the pre-revolutionary period found Guillén as a fighting journalist -his biography can be consulted to know how many times he was in jail and his life was in danger-, from 1959, he puts his pen at the service of the revolutionary press. He restarts his collaborations in Hoy. Became our National Poet, is also president founder from Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, making a prodigious editing labor.

He traversed the complete spectrum of journalist work: his working debut is as typographer in his father's printing, later on proofreader, chief redactor, editor and director of publications. All who knows well the profession is aware of how hard is to walk on this wild path and be successful at the end.

When the National Prize of Literature is granted for the first time in 1983 and this outstanding accolade honored him, it acknowledged the uncommon excellence of his entire body of work, which, together with poetry, ocuppied a remarkable space within the journalist work (chronicles, articles, interviews, comments, reportages) of a genuine artisan of letters.

Prosa de Prisa and Páginas Vueltas (Memories) are a good example of what we have exposed here. However, some other dispersed materials in national and foreign magazines and newspapers -in Spanish or in other languages-, will give us the exact idea of the nice, concise style of unrevokable social compromise of the journalist Nicolás Guillén, our National Poet.

Excerpted from Cubaliteraria

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