Extensive Program of Activities for the 2023 Casa de las Américas Literary Award
The 2023 Casa de las Americas Literary Award will reach its 63rd edition with a record number of participants.
At a press conference held in the Manuel Galich Hall of the Casa de las Américas, the activities planned by this institution for the Literary Award, which will be held between the 24th and 28th of this month, were detailed.
Cuban intellectual Jorge Fornet, director of the Center for Literary Research and Casa’s magazine, pointed out the record number of entries in the short story and testimony categories, with 353 and 96 works, respectively.
According to him, these figures are due to the possibility of submitting through digital platforms, which should contribute to an increase in the number of works received in subsequent calls for entries.
There are four categories in this edition. In the short story category, Oliverio Coelho, Luis Laya and Alberto Marrero will be in charge of selecting the winning work. In the case of testimonial literature, the decision will be made by Telma Luzzani, Cristian Valencia and Ricardo Riverón Rojas.
The jury for Brazilian literature will be composed of Mário Araújo, Clara Dias, and Ingrid Brioso Rieumont (who will participate online), while Yuderkys Espinosa Miñoso, Jesús «Chucho» García, and Alberto Curbelo will head the section for studies on the black presence in contemporary America and the Caribbean.
As part of his remarks, Fornet shared the program of the event, which will be dedicated to Haydée Santamaría and Fina García Marruz. Among the activities, he highlighted the presence of the Venezuelan poet Gustavo Pereira, who will give the opening speech of the event and who will be awarded the José Lezama Lima Prize on Tuesday 25th for his book Diario de las revelaciones.
Prior to this, on the same day, the Para dar testimonio meeting will be held with the members of the jury of this category and a presentation with last year’s winners: Luis Lorente (La excepcional belleza del verano) and Javier Núñez (Hija de nadie).
On Wednesday, April 26, another of last year’s winners will give a lecture. Spanish professor José Antonio Piqueras will talk about his book Moneda y malestar social en Cuba (1790-1902). On the same day, the panel Afroepistemologías, razón cimarrona y cultura popular en Afroamérica will take place.
The following day, the meeting Los narradores se confiesan will be held with the participation of the juries of short stories and Brazilian literature; and on Friday, April 28, the awards will be presented at 7:00 p.m. in the Che Guevara Room of the Casa de las Americas.
At the same time and place, on Thursday, April 27, the piece Allí donde la luz by Cuban composer and pianist José María Vitier, inspired by the Cuban poet’s poem En la muerte de una heroína, will be premiered in a concert dedicated to the centenaries of Haydée Santamaría and Fina García Marruz, inspired by the poem by the Cuban poetess En la muerte de una heroína.
«It began to grow in the composer’s imagination and became a work for mixed choir, piano, two percussionists and chamber orchestra,» said María Elena Vinueza, musical director of the institution.
Due to its scope, the work required the participation of the Cuban Institute of Music and the National Center for Concert Music, and its performance includes the National Choir of Cuba, conducted by Maestro Digna Guerra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, conducted by Maestro Daiana García, with the participation of Janet Rodríguez and Alejandro Aguiar on percussion and Rodrigo García on piano.
«Because of its closeness to Fina, because of its importance in the beautiful relationship with Haydée, because of the meaning and dimension of this poem, it was a work that was anticipated with a very special premiere,» commented musicologist María Elena Vinueza.
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
