- Winner of Radio France Internationale’s Juan Rulfo Award 2007.
- Member of the Board of The Swedish Writers Union (2006-2012) and member of the Swedish PEN Club. He belonged to the Klassikergruppen of the Swedish State Council of Culture, and he writes for Le Monde Diplomatique, Ordfront, El Viejo topo and other newspapers and magazines.
- He has published novels, essays and poetry, and he’s author of the Cuban trilogy La era imaginaria (1986), La isla del Cundeamor (1995) and Un amor que se nos va (2006).
- René’s cookbook El sabor de Cuba (2002) is a mixture of short stories and Cuban food.
- His novel Ciudades junto al mar, 2012, (Cities by the sea) harseen published in Swedish and Spanish.
- Vázquez Díaz worked as a project manager in The Olof Palme International Centre (Stockholm). As a result of his work, the Center published the following books: Bipolaridad de la Cultura Cubana (1994), Health & Nutrition in Cuba: Effects of the US Embargo (1999) and Textos para cerrar un siglo (1999).
- Vázquez has translated Swedish literature into Spanish and his own works have been translated into Swedish, French, Italian, English and Finnish. He was born in Caibarién, in the northern coast of centralCuba, and he currently resides inSweden.