The Great Zoo

Nicolás Guillén



Arnal Ballester (illustrations)

«In the aquarium of the Great Zoo, / swims the Caribbean. This seagoing / and enigmatic animal / has a crystal crescent, a blue back, a green tail, / a belly of dense coral, / gray fins of cylcone speed. In the aquarium, this inscription: “Beware: it bites”.»

An unusual bestiary and a surprising book of tales in which poetry, humour and social commentary flow together, The Great Zoo is one of the key works in Latin American poetry. Guillen’s astonishing verbal power achieves its maximum expression in these texts

With these illustrations, Arnal Ballester, winner of the National Prize for Illustration 2008, has managed to establish a surprising dialogue with the words of the great Cuban poet, to create a work without compare.

Arnal Ballester, National Prize for Illustration 2008

160 x 240 mm; 64 pp. Hardback with Jacket | ISBN: 978-84-96509-38-9

See the author's biography
See the illustrator's biography

Arnal Ballester

Barcelona, 1955



Teacher of illustration at the Massana School of Art and Design in Barcelona. He has published over fifty works. In 1993 he won the National Prize for books published in Spain for children and young people, and in 1994, he won the Illustrator of the Year prize at the Bologna-UNICEF Book Fair. In 1996 his work appeared in the international exhibition The Secret Garden, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Bologna Book Fair. In 2008 the Spanish Ministry of Culture awarded him the National Illustration Prize.

Títulos publicados:
The Great Zoo