CAMAGÜEY. Recetofilia is a book that overflows with passion. Those of us who know its author, Camagüey-born writer Evelin Queipo, understand that everything she creates is shaped by the pursuit of perfection that defines her.

One day, she invited me to taste a custard she had prepared for her daughter’s afternoon snack. The delight was such that she confessed her love for making sweets for friends; in that moment, I realized our connection went beyond the simple exchange of texts. More than a decade has passed since then, and I can say I still treasure both her literary work and the emotional memory of the flavors that pulse through her universe.

That is why it came as no surprise that, during the most difficult moments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba, Evelin intertwined her passions—turning dessert recipes into verse and, in an act of remarkable generosity, sharing them on her Facebook page.

 The response on social media was immediate. So much so that journalist Yanetsy León encouraged her to publish those poems on Adelante’s “Brújula del verano” page in 2021.

 That marked the beginning of Recetofilia, a book published by Ácana Publishing House in 2022, edited by Emilio Antonio Ramírez Vargas, with cover design by Maykel Sardaña and photographs by the author herself. After a long wait, it has returned as one of the publisher’s highlights for the 59th anniversary of the Cuban Book Institute, and was featured this April 25 during Sábado del Libro on Maceo Street.

 From Adelante, I invite readers to covet a copy, to experience the magic within these pages—the magic of Evelin Queipo—certain that not even the Richter scale could measure the intensity of her passions.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez