About this episode

The episode explores the tradition of lectores de tabaqueres in cigar factories, narrated by Andy Garcia.

Narrated by Andy Garcia. At the turn of the century until the 1930s in the cigar factories of Tampa and Ybor City, a well dressed man in a panama hat with a loud and beautiful voice sat atop a platform and read to the cigar workers as they rolled. These readers, known as Lectores de Tabaqueres, read Cervantes, Zola, Victor Hugo, Karl Marx, Jules Verne…. It was the voices and words of these lectores, before radio and mechanization, who informed, organized, and incited the cigar workers, who labored by hand until the 1930s, when both the rollers and readers were replaced by mechanization. A lost tradition of story and smoke. From the Lost & Found Sound series on NPR. Produced by The Kitchen Sisters (Davia Nelson & Nikki Silva) and Jay Allison. The Kitchen Sisters Present is part of Radiotopia from PRX.

People in this episode

Hosts: Davia Nelson, Nikki Silva

Guest: Andy Garcia

Topics covered

• cigar factories
• lectores de tabaqueres
• labor history
• storytelling
• cultural traditions

Keywords

• cigar workers
• Ybor City
• story and smoke
• mechanization
• cultural history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Kitchen Sisters, Radiotopia, NPR

Books & works: Cervantes, Zola, Victor Hugo, Karl Marx, Jules Verne

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