A Cuban revolution expert at Queen Mary, University of London is to give two lectures in early 2009 to mark the publication of his first book on 8 January, and the 50th anniversary of the political uprising in Cuba.
Dr Simon Reid-Henry, a Geography lecturer and author of new biography Fidel and Che: A Revolutionary Friendship is giving a joint talk at the Southbank Centre in London on Wednesday 14 January, discussing the enduring friendship forged between infamous Cuban president Fidel Castro and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the iconic Argentine revolutionary, from their formative years together exiled in Mexico through to the Cuban missile crisis.
His fellow speaker is investigative reporter Jon lee Anderson, also author of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. The event, entitled Fidel and Che, is chaired by Nick Caistor, an award-winning translator and broadcaster specialising in Latin America.
This fascinating discussion opens the Southbank Centre’s Revolution Now series, which explores insurgency in all its forms, with a range of visiting speakers, and runs throughout spring.
On Monday 16 February, Dr Reid-Henry is speaking at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), delivering a lecture entitled Revolutionary friends: Fidel and Che. He will reveal how his travel in Cuba, Moscow, Berlin, Washington, London, and beyond, aided his archival research into these two larger-than-life figures of 20th Century political history.
“They are among the most instantly recognisable historical characters and setting their lives alongside one another reveals the fascinating interplay between their respective visions of revolution and the subsequently different responses they each made to the broader realities of the Cold War,” explained Dr Reid-Henry.
For media information, contact: