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Enrique Labrador Ruiz, Cuban journalist, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and poet, was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba on 11 May 1902. He was a member of the Academia Cubana de la Lengua and also of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española. Labrador Ruiz was a well-learned and traveled man who created his own style of writing novels which he called gaseiforme. In 1933, he published his first novel in this style, El laberinto de sí mismo, which forms a trilogy with Cresival (1936) and Anteo (Novela gaseiforme)(1940). With his collection of short stories El gallo en el espejo (1953), he established his cuentería cubiche style.

In 1976, Labrador Ruiz and his wife María (Cheché) were exiled from Cuba. After residing in Spain and Venezuela, they moved to and maintained their permanent residence in Miami, Florida. During his years of exile, Labrador Ruiz wrote for many literary journals and newspapers, including Réplica (Miami), El Diario de Caracas, and Linden Lane Magazine.

Enrique Labrador Ruiz received numerous awards and honors for his works of literature. In Cuba, Conejito Ulán won the Hernández Catá Prize in 1946, and in 1950 his novel Sangre hambrienta won the Premio Nacional de Literatura. Some of his most important works are: El gallo en el espejo (1953), El pan de los muertos (1958), and his final work, Cartas a la carte (1991).

Enrique Labrador Ruiz died in Miami on 10 November 1991.

Series I includes the manuscripts of many of Enrique Labrador Ruiz's literary works, essays, short stories, and books. The manuscript of his last book, Cartas a la carte (1991) is found in this series. Other materials include photocopies and clippings of his newspaper and magazine articles and of those written about him.

This series contains letters written and received by Labrador Ruiz, the bulk of which were written to him by literary figures including Stefan Baciu, Guillermo Francovich, and Gastón Baquero.