Cintio Vitier Author

Cintio Vitier, who died in 2009 aged 88, was a celebrated Cuban poet and essayist. His poetry books include Extraneza de Estar (The Wonder of Being) Visperas (Vespers) and Canto llano (Plain Song). Cintio Vitier won the National Prize for Literature in 1988, the 2002 Juan Rulfo Prize and the medal of the Cuban Academy of Science. Daisaku Ikeda is the President of Soka Gakkai International, a Buddhist network with some twelve million members in over 190 countries throughout the world. He is the author of over 100 books on Buddhist themes and received the United Nations Peace Award in 1983.