BY FRANK FORRESTAL

CHICAGO - Cuban poet Norberto Codina, editor of La Gaceta de Cuba, a magazine of art and literature, will be speaking at several Chicago-area colleges and universities November 10-16. Following his visit here, Codina will travel to the New York region, where he has received a number of speaking invitations.

Codina was recently informed by U.S. officials that they are granting him a visa to visit the United States. He has received invitations to speak on the theme of art and culture in Cuba from professors and student groups at some 15 universities and colleges in the Chicago and New York areas. Many of those issuing these invitations regard Codina receiving a visa as a significant victory for those who want to broaden cultural and other exchanges with Cuba and who want to hear the truth about that Caribbean nation. In past months the Clinton administration has denied visas to a number of Cubans invited to speak in the United States.

Codina's speaking engagements are being coordinated by Félix Masud-Piloto, director of the Center for Latino Research at DePaul University. In this area Codina will speak at DePaul, Northwestern University, Northern Illinois University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Waubonsee Community College, and Illinois Benedictine College. Academics at several other schools are also planning to have the Cuban editor speak.

Some students who participated in the October 12 demonstration in Washington, D.C., in defense of the rights of immigrants are beginning to help out on building Codina's speaking engagements.

For the past eight years, Codina has been the editor of La Gaceta, a prestigious magazine published by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). The July-August issue features a series of articles on Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, one of Cuba's best known film directors, who died in Havana earlier this year. The issue also includes an interview with Ernesto Sábato, one of Argentina's foremost novelists; and a collection of contemporary poetry from Holguín, an important cultural center in eastern Cuba.

As a writer and editor, Codina has traveled to many parts of the world. He recently participated in a conference on "Culture in Cuba" held September 27-28 in Montreal. Last year Codina spoke at universities in Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Earlier this year Codina was given the National Culture Award by the Cuba's Ministry of Culture.

La Gaceta is published in Spanish six times a year and is available through Pathfinder Press ( 410 West Street, New York, N.Y. 10014). The publishing house just announced a special student subscription rate of $28 a year. The regular individual subscription rate is $40. Those interested in Codina's speaking engagements can contact Felix Masud-Piloto at (312) 325-7317.  
 
 
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