Surprised upon learning the news, Retamar told Granma International that he was extraordinarily honored on being “the first Cuban to receive it and coming from an institution like UNESCO – which is a true oasis in this world – which Martí would have been very proud of.”

As Prensa Latina reported, also highlighted was Retamar’s work as president of the Casa de las Américas for four decades, noting he “has contributed permanently, from this prestigious center, to the promotion of peace, solidarity, human rights and equality among Latin American and Caribbean nations, values recognized by this Award.”

Retamar, a tireless scholar of the life and work of the most universal of Cubans, José Martí, among many other topics, received the prestigious award during the 4th International Conference FOR WORLD BALANCE, held January 28 through 31, at the Havana International Conference Center.

(Granma)

The Casa has been located here since its founding in July 1959, through one of the first laws passed by the revolutionary government, and hundreds of Latin American and Caribbean intellectuals have gathered in its halls on the occasion of the awarding of a Prize that today celebrates its 60th edition.

Haydee Santamaría (1923-1980), heroine of the revolutionary struggle, who led the institution until her death, supported the idea of a literary contest, whose foundations were drafted by the great Cuban intellectual Alejo Carpentier, just three months after its founding. The first panel of judges would meet in 1960.

Under several different names, the prize, originally known as the Hispanic-American Literary Competition (1960), then the Latin American Literary Competition (1964), and finally, the current Casa Prize (1965), has become, over six uninterrupted decades, one of the continent’s most prestigious.

Aspects such as the quality of the winning books in a wide range of genres (currently 15), the number of competing works (about 30,000 titles), published authors, and the participating judges (exceeding the figure of 1,300) confirm such an opinion.

In the 1999 book Premio Casa de las Américas. Memoria, compilación y valoración de la historia del concurso, Jorge Fornet and Inés Casañas highlight: “In the first competition, included were the canonical genres: poetry, novel, theater, essay, and short story, but others were added… Thus emerged as a genre or category: testimony; Caribbean literature in French, English or Creole; Brazilian fiction and nonfiction literature; literature for children and young people; and topics that addressed studies on gender, indigenous cultures, Latinos in the United States, or African-Americanism.”

Speaking at a recent press conference headed by poet and Casa President, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Fornet, director of the Casa’s Literary Research Center, announced that this year the literary contest would be held January 21-31.

The number of books submitted, almost 600, attest to the interest that the Prize still arouses among young authors, and the confidence in the strong ethics of a competition that rewards literary quality.

The categories for 2019 are: novel (167 works received); poetry (224), Historical-Social Essay (28), Brazilian Literature (45), Literature for children and young people (101), and the Prize for Studies on Latinos in the United States (19).

In addition, the Casa will once again present its three honorific awards, as it has done since 2000: the José Lezama Lima Prize for poetry, José María Arguedas for narrative, and Ezequiel Martínez Estrada for essay.

These names are not only emblematic within the literature of the American continent — as indicated by a broad dossier put together by the Casa Research Center and Communications Department — but were also linked to the institution and the Prize since its early years.

The Cuban Lezama Lima was a judge on three occasions; Peruvian Arguedas on one; and the Argentine Martínez Estrada not only served as such, but was also the first to win the Essay Prize in 1960 with Análisis funcional de la cultura.

The composition of the juries on this occasion is as follows: the novel prize will be awarded by Adrián Curiel Rivera (Mexico), Víctor Goldgel (Argentina), Lina Meruane (Chile), Anne Marie Metaillié (France), and Eduardo del Llano (Cuba); for poetry by Aurea María Sotomayor (Puerto Rico), Raúl Vallejo (Ecuador), and Soleida Ríos (Cuba); the historic-social essay prize by Néstor Francia (Venezuela), Elissa L. Lister (Dominican Republic), and Raúl Garcés (Cuba) .

The selection in Brazilian literature will be the responsibility of Isis Barra Costa, Luisa Geisler, and José Luiz Passos; the prize for studies on Latinos in the United States by Frances Aparicio (Puerto Rico), José Manuel Valenzuela (Mexico), and Rubén Rumbaut (Cuba-U.S.); while the award for literature for children and young people will be selected by Elena Dreser (Argentina), Mario Picayo (Cuba-U.S.), and Olga Marta Pérez (Cuba).

Given that this is the 60th edition of the Casa Prize, the inaugural remarks were presented by Fernández Retamar, and with them the jury was constituted.

The 2019 Casa Prize represents both continuity and transformation, as it celebrates its 60th edition.

(Granma)

During the gala at Hidalgo Castle in the capital, the hotel took the top prize in the restoration and renovation category.

Havanatour general manager in Chile, Israel Otaño, accepted the award on behalf of the establishment.

Other winners in the hotel category included the Casa República in Lima, Peru which received the Special Interior prize, and Chile’s Tierra Chiloé Hotel, which won the award for exteriors.

“It is an honor to be receiving this award on behalf of the Kempinski company and Gaviota tourist chain; a source of pride and a reference for tourism on our island,” stated Otaño.

The Havanatour official also noted that the prize represents recognition of the development of the travel industry in Cuba.

With this accolade the Gran Manzana Kempinski features among finalists for the Prix Versailles World Architecture Awards, which will be held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, May 15.

“The Prix Versailles is a source of pride for our country, because this is the first time the continental edition of the competition has been held in a Latin American nation since it was launched in 2015,” stated Myriam Gómez, executive director of Imagen de Chile, an initiative which promotes the country overseas.

The five-star Gran Manzana Kempinski hotel has 246 rooms, as well as 50 suites, bars, restaurants, a spa, gym, roof-top pool, and exclusive cigar lounge.

Shopping centers, restaurants, and stores from across the Americas were also recognized during the event in Santiago, with Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Chile and Argentina taking the top prizes.

Meanwhile, the most outstanding establishments in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceana will receive awards this month as Algiers and Beijing, capitals of Algeria and China respectively, host other Prix Versailles continental galas.

(Prensa Latina)