Ciudad Seva
Encyclopedia
Ciudad Seva is a web site founded on December 12, 1995 by Puerto Rican
author Luis López Nieves
.
. He chose "Seva
", the title of his first book, as the name of the site. In creating Ciudad Seva, López Nieves unknowingly became the first Spanish-speaking writer with his own webpage.
.
, including one for the peer review
of writings and the exchange of ideas for improving each other's work. In addition, visitors can subscribe to a weekly classic short story via email
.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
author Luis López Nieves
Luis López Nieves
Luis López Nieves is one of the most influential and best-selling Puerto Rican authors ever. He has won the National Literature Prize on two occasions: first, in 2000, with his book of historical short stories ; second, in 2005, with his novel . He published two other books including Seva, and ...
.
Creation
The site was launched out of curiosity, as a way for López Nieves to keep in touch with his family and friends by what was, at the time, a new means of communication: the World Wide WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. He chose "Seva
Seva (short story)
"Seva: A History of the First American Invasion of the Island of Puerto Rico in May 1898" is a short story written by Puerto Rican author Luis López Nieves. First published in the newspaper Claridad on December 23, 1983, the story gives a fictionalized account of the 1898 U.S. invasion of Puerto...
", the title of his first book, as the name of the site. In creating Ciudad Seva, López Nieves unknowingly became the first Spanish-speaking writer with his own webpage.
Development and growth
Conceived as a way for the author to keep in touch with his friends and students, the site quickly grew into a place where people from around the world could get to know his work. The different sections have been vastly expanded over the years, now containing almost all publicly-known information about the author and his writings.Ciudad Seva Digital Library
Founded in April 2001, the Ciudad Seva Digital Library has become a major attraction of the site. Begun as a way for the author to post useful stories for his students and courses, it now houses more than 3000 classic short storiesShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
.
Other uses
In addition to its digital library function, the site houses numerous literary forumsInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
, including one for the peer review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
of writings and the exchange of ideas for improving each other's work. In addition, visitors can subscribe to a weekly classic short story via email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
.