In the Casa’s Che Guevara Hall, essayist Jorge Fornet, director of the Literary Research Center, which organizes the event, introduced the juries which announced their decisions in six categories.

Prizes were awarded to writers from Argentina, Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Brazil and Martinicque, reflecting the broad representation of literature from across the region.

In the category of Story, the jury of Santiago Gamboa (Colombia); Ana Quiroga (Argentina); Eduardo Lalo (Puerto Rico); Ramiro Sanchiz (Uruguay) and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (Cuba), unanimously agreed to award the Prize to Ni una sola voz en el cielo, by Ariel Urquiza, from Argentina.

One of the paragraphs in the jury’s statement explained that the book was chosen because of “the talent demonstrated in the narrative, in stories that range from Buenos Aires to México D.F., taking into account the language and atmosphere of each place … the solid unity of the book and its narrative complexity.”

Among the essays on an artistic-literary topic, the jury composed of Sandra Lorenzano (Argentina-Mexico), Julio Ramos (Puerto Rico) and Mayerín Bello (Cuba) chose to honor De las cenizas al texto. Literaturas andinas de las disidencias sexuales en el siglo XX, by Diego Falconí Trávez, from Ecuador, “For its originality and the critical intensity of his queer look at the literary culture of the Andean region; for the relevance of his contribution to theoretical discussions on sexuality and power; and for his special attention to these discussions in a lucid reading of the literary texts.”

Awarded Special Mentions were A flote. Dos décadas de arte en Cuba, by Mailyn Machado and Corazones errantes: ¿Dónde está mi mundo? by Joaquín Borges Triana, both from Cuba.

The Theater jury, including André Carreira (Brazil); Mariana Percovich (Uruguay); Luis A. Ramos García (Peru); Alejandro Román Bahena (Mexico); and Fátima Patterson (Cuba), unanimously agreed to honor Si esto es una tragedia yo soy una bicicleta, by Cuban writer Legna Rodríguez Iglesias, Cuba, “For its literary merits, consistent construction of characters … a work about death and the power of love that invites possible stagings as diverse as those who may read it.”

They additionally awarded Special Mentions to Subasta (Boceto No. 1 de la serie DíasporA), by Laura Liz Gil Echenique and Yellow, Dream Rd., by Rogelio Orizondo, both Cuban, and to Odisea doble par (Farsa del Imperio), by Argentina’s Mariano Saba.

Books on investigations of Original Cultures of the Americas were evaluated by Natalio Hernández (Mexico), Javier Lajo Lazo (Peru), and Claudia Zapata (Chile), who unanimously agreed to present the Prize in this category to Mingas de la palabra. Textualidades oralitegráficas y visiones de cabeza en las oralituras y literaturas indígenas contemporáneas, by Miguel Rocha Vivas, from Colombia.

Their statement describes the winning work as “a profound, up-to-date, original study on the writings of contemporary indigenous in Colombian … for establishing pertinent, illustrative links between these writings and other forms of expression, languages and symbolic representations created by original peoples.”

The new jury chosen to read Brazilian literature included an intellectual from that country (Idelber Avelar), plus one from Argentina (Viviana Gelado) and Mexico (Consuelo Rodríguez Muñoz), who agreed to award the Prize to Devotos e Devassos. Representação dos padres e beatas na literatura anticlerical brasileira, by Cristian Santos.

They described the work as “an innovative study … profound and well structured, based on a broad historical and literary bibliography … which has the potential to open the way for comparative investigations…”

Works in the category of Caribbean Literature in French or Creole were considered by Aura Marina Boadas (Venezuela); Gary Víctor (Haiti); and Josefina Castro Alegret (Cuba) who unanimously voted to present the award to Le Bataillon créole (Guerre de 1914-1918), by the eminent writer from Martinique, Raphaël Confiant, “for the sociological and ethnographic value of this novel, behind which can be perceived significant research work which becomes a grand fresco of Martinique in the period 1914-1918… For depicting with strength, humor and original language … recovering Creole orality in a little-known period of Caribbean life.”

Receiving a Special Mention in this category was the book of poetry, Guadeloupe ouvre ses ailes froisseés, by another illustrious writer, Ernest Pepin, from Guadalupe.

HONORIFIC PRIZES

Since 2000, the Casa de las Américas has awarded honorific prizes to important books by authors from Our America, or those addressing Latin American issues, in the genres of poetry, narrative and essay. This year, books published in 2013 and 2014 were considered.

The José Lezama Lima Poetry Prize went to Verdad posible, by Eduardo Langagne, from Mexico. The Ezequiel Martínez Estrada Prize for an essay was awarded to Cuando lo nuevo conquistó América. Prensa, moda y literatura en el siglo XIX, by Argentine Víctor Goldgel; while for narrative, the José María Arguedas Prize was granted to Las cenizas del cóndor, by Fernando Butazzoni, Uruguay.

A compatriot in the Casa

A very special moment was the master lecture, presented on January 26 in Che Guevara Hall, by former Uruguayan President José Mujica, who began his comments saying, “I am a compatriot who once fell in love and dreamed of changing the world, as many of you here did.”

Mujica immediately established rapport with the audience, saying, “For me it is a great honor to be in this temple of culture, of the sculpture that is writing, of painting, of feeling, of transforming it into nostalgia and sentiment; in poetry, in a sensation conveyed over time, which allows human beings to inter communicate.”

He devoted much of his speech to Cuba’s national hero, José Martí, and emphasized, “It’s not the ceremony of recalling Martí only to make a tribute. We go to the trunk to look for intellectual tools which can serve us in today’s struggle … I don’t know, nor do I have the authority to say, if he was pre-modernist or something like that, it doesn’t matter to me. What is important to me is that he was a dreamer, a constructor, and he didn’t just stick to writing papers. He wrote papers to inspire life and action… Martí represents a very precise moment in history; he established an intellectual commitment to a living cause.”

The Casa Prize cultural activities (January 18-28) have drawn to a close, reconfirming that the competition is one of the continent’s most prestigious. New authors are now joining the world of Latin American and Caribbean literature, marked by the great names who likewise emerged from this very event, or who have honored it with their presence as protective jury members, seeking only aesthetic and literary value in the competing works.

(Mireya Castañeda, Granma)

Held January 18-28, in Havana and Cienfuegos, the prizes have attracted hundreds of writers, with a total of 450 works competing in several categories, including story, theater, artistic-literary essay, Brazilian literature, Caribbean literature in French or Creole, and studies of indigenous cultures of the Americas.

As they do every year, eminent Latin American writers and intellectuals have descended on the Casa de la Américas as jury members, to read the submissions for the purpose of choosing the winners for the 57th edition.

Jorge Fornet, director of the Casa’s Literary Research Center talked with Granma International about the Prizes, and their history within Latin American literature.

“Throughout its many editions, the Prize has attracted hundreds of Latin American and Caribbean writers, which is what sustains it, that writers continue to be interested in competing here. And there is always a recurring question: Why, almost 60 years later, do people who write trust the Casa Prize?

“The reason must be, on one hand, the prestige accumulated over so many years, a prize won by great figures, from Roque Dalton, to Ricardo Piglia, from Alfredo Bryce to Eduardo Galeano. They are distinctions which, of course, writers desire. Another is the capacity the Prize has to avoid pressures of all kinds. Many competitions must attend to the market too much, for example. The Casa has this disadvantage and this advantage: It is not involved in the market as other prizes are, but it doesn’t have the pressure to respond to a predetermined demand. That is also why we have the luxury of being ambitious, and including genres which are in no way commercial, but which appear, to the Casa de las Américas, to fall within the institution’s own project, and the country’s, which very much surpasses borders, even those of language, of traditional or more commercial genres,” explained Fornet.

On this occasion, the jury was composed of important figures within Latin American literature, as has been the case in previous editions. Thus, participating are Santiago Gamboa (Colombia), Eduardo Lalo (Puerto Rico), Ana Quiroga (Argentina), Ramiro Sanchiz (Uruguay) and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (Cuba), in the Story category; André Carreira (Brazil), Mariana Percovich (Uruguay), Luis A. Ramos (Peru-U.S.), Alejandro Román Bahena (Mexico) and Fátima Patterson (Cuba), Theater; Sandra Lorenzano (Argentina-Mexico), Julio Ramos (Puerto Rico) and Mayerín Bello (Cuba), artistic-literary essay; Idelber Avelar (Brazil), Viviana Gelado (Argentina) and Consuelo Rodríguez Muñoz (Mexico), Brazilian literature; Aura Marina Boadas (Venezuela), Gary Victor (Haiti) and Josefina Castro Alegret (Cuba), Caribbean literature in French or Creole; and finally, Natalio Hernández (Mexico), Javier Lajo (Peru) and Claudia Zapata (Chile), studies of indigenous cultures of the Americas.

“We always try to have established, more well-known figures, as well as others who are young or not so young, who may not be as well known amongst us. On the one hand, so Cuban audiences can get to know them, and also so they can get to know each other.

“I always remember something that Julio Cortázar used to say, that he discovered he was Latin American when he came in 1963. Cortázar didn’t know he was Latin American, he knew he was an Argentine writer living in Paris, and only when he arrived here, discovering his colleagues and entering into conversation with them, his life took on another dimension, a continental dimension, and this is also part of the Casa’s purpose, trying to establish these networks of intellectuals,” Fornet said.

In addition to selecting the prizewinning works, the Casa organizes a parallel program of activities, including panels and conferences – on this occasion, a special event with former President of Uruguay, José Mujica – expositions and launchings of last year’s winning titles.

“Part of the Prize is, of course, the reading and recognition of the works, but there is also a parallel program, which is the writers’ opportunity to encounter Cuba’s reality, and that of Cuban readers, above all during the panels we have every year, in which the opportunity is provided to listen to them, to propose topics which could be controversial, issues under debate, and to see how they approach these questions. That is, to be able to hear people from other environments, what their experiences are, and thus enrich ourselves.

“Neither the Prize or the Casa are going to change thanks to any super-human inspiration. But rather, it is precisely contact with these intellectuals, and seeing what is happening, that obliges us to rethink ourselves. On the one hand, the Prize, and the Casa, intend to be faithful to our initial purpose, that of 1959, that of investigation, promotion, and dissemination of the culture of our region, and at the same time, renew ourselves every year,” Fornet added.

Once the 2016 Casa de las Américas Literary Prizes have been awarded, the manuscripts will go to the publishers, to be ready for next year’s event, when they will be presented. In the meantime, the institution will continue to encourage the region’s literary and intellectual work, to continue discovering ourselves in the immensity of Latin America.

(Granma)