2023-04-29 19:29:53
Authors from Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and obviously from Brazil in the Reading section of that country, won the prizes and mentions of the 63rd edition of the Casa de las Américas Award, whose juries met from April 24 to 28.
In Story the work was awarded we are all islands, by Luis Felipe Núñez Mestre, described in the minutes as «stories that delve into dark areas of Latin American reality, with narrative efficiency, intensity and rhythm, characters that are very well profiled psychologically and language of a wide range that does not evade the popular colloquial. Through its pages parade alienated beings, consumed by fear, trampled on by drugs, violence, impunity, abuse and prejudice against women, fractured childhood, daily injustices, and with undoubted mastery he achieves a shocking picture that incites rage. and at the same time compassion, without answers or morals, or ontological musings, or predictable endings, but that force the reader to reflect and, why not, to take sides”.
The titles received mentions in this genre the night of the housefrom Esmeralda Torres, from Venezuela and Welcome, señor Kerryby the Cuban Emerio Medina Peña.
In Testimonial Literature the awards went to After the fire (War Papers: Venezuela 2017-2021), by Eduardo Ernesto Viloria Daboin, from Venezuela.
«It is,» explained the jury, «a volume whose use of modern language is forceful, so that what seems typical of the cinematographic procedure turns out to be a poetic, hard and emotional literary story, which illuminates each one of the scenes. The prioritized scenario is the Colombian-Venezuelan border with the performance of hit men at the service of the landowners, and through these pages the crimes and savagery of the abuses on that porous border become evident. It is a highly eloquent testimony about people and processes that are not generally made visible in Venezuela today, in which the empire’s methodology –which today is commonplace– against the emancipatory processes in the countries of Our America and those that do not, is evident. they submit to it.”
In this section, a mention was also given to the volume Stormy and colorful adventures of a Basque proofreader and columnist in the Dominican pressby Juan Carlos Campos Sagaseta de Ilurdoz (Koldo), Basque Country-Dominican Republic.
the set of tales Childhood with animals and nightmares (and other stories), by Cyro de Mattos, received the award in Brazilian Literature, for being a book “that absorbs the reader through its poetic narratives of a disturbing lightness, that captivate the reader, and that reveal a surprising mastery of language. The volume has a unique literary quality that reflects the maturity of the author.”
The works Even without knowing whereby JR Bellé and rubro-black machineby Gustavo Castanheira, received mentions in this category.
In the category of Studies on the black presence in contemporary America and the Caribbean, he received the award The shore of Caliban: the trail of Afro-Caribbean philosophy in the 20th century, by Roberto Rafael Almanza Hernández, Colombia, whose inscription in «the tradition of Caribbean thought and philosophy was highlighted, while showing its connections with Afro-diasporic thought, highlighting the important contributions of authors and movements of the African diaspora to the production of “la caribeñidad”.
“In this way, he updates and broadens Caliban’s paths, his resistance and confrontations with the colonizing powers.”
The originality of the work, the jury declared, resides in showing the particularity of the thought of Afro-Caribbean authors and intellectuals while showing the deep connections with Africa, as well as with the white-mestizo hegemonic literature of the rest of the Caribbean and the continent.
Chilean María Elena Oliva Oliva received a mention for her book Escribir la afrodescendencia. Debates and trajectories of the Afro intelligentsia in the Latin American 20th century.
A day earlier, Casa de las Américas would have awarded the José Lezama Lima Poetry Prize, which this year was awarded to the book diary of revelationsby the Venezuelan Gustavo Pereira, “because it is an ambitious project that overflows genres and assimilates the poetic to forms and expressions that are usually elusive, and for the happy way in which the encyclopedic works —with a language that moves in the most varied records—within the space of private writing.”
For the first time this year, the Casa de las Américas Literary Award is held in a month other than January. But, and despite the natural transformations that it has had to undergo in its 63 years of existence, it continues to be that meeting and debate place for writers from all over the world and especially from Our America, and it continues to fulfill the mission of disseminating the The work of the award-winning writers, many of whom begin to be recognized after winning the contest, commented the La Ventana site.
The postponement of the Casa 2023 Award for the month of April, regretted at some point, has also coincided with the closing of the important day of tribute for the centenary of Haydee Santamaría, founding president of the Casa, and the celebration of what would be the hundredth birthday of the Cuban writer Fina García Marruz, who was precisely born on April 28, the day that also marks the creation of the House in 1959, commented La Ventana.
This chance is only useful for us to glimpse the fruitful closeness between the poet and the House, in which we distinguish her deep relationship with Roberto Fernández Retamar and her poem to Haydee, “En la muerte de una heroína de la patria”, one of the most most touching that they have dedicated to him.
With information from La Ventana
Cover photo: Taken from La Ventana
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