The Cuban writer Marta Acosta Álvarez wins the Iberoamericano Julio Cortázar Prize

September 6, 2018

The work "The Scent of Cherry Trees," by Cuban author Marta Acosta Álvarez, won the XVII edition of the Ibero-American Julio Cortázar Prize, among more than 200 texts by short story authors residing on all continents. The awards ceremony took place this Wednesday the 29th at the Dulce María Loynaz center in the capital, in the presence of Javier Figueroa, ambassador of Argentina; Miguel Barnet, president of the Uneac and of the Prize, which has already accumulated 17 years; Roberto Fernández Retamar, director of Casa de las Américas; and Juan Carlos Santana, vice president of the Cuban Book Institute.

According to the jury, composed of Argentine writer Martín Kohan and Cubans María Elena Llana and Rafael de Águila, Marta's text "immerses us in an atmosphere of deep sadness and family nostalgia, successfully using the symbolic expressiveness of elements from nature." The author was sparing with words when thanking for the coveted prize; nevertheless, she expressed feeling moved and happy about it. My work, she said, has much to do with what I observe daily, and she congratulated the other award recipients.

The awards ceremony of the competition, which also recognized five honorable mentions and one first mention, took place a few days after the birth of the author of Rayuela, an opportune occasion for Cuban intellectual Roberto Fernández Retamar to recall his friendship with Cortázar, beginning with his participation in 1963 as a juror for the Casa Prize, his first reading of his famous novel, and his return to Cuba in 1967 to participate in the activities commemorating the centenary of Rubén Darío, an occasion when he met the prestigious Lithuanian intellectual Ugné Karvelis, whom he would later marry and with whom he would live until the last days of his life. Retamar recalled a phrase that Cortázar liked to repeat often: "the novel is won on points but the short story is won by knockout." And he congratulated Marta Acosta Álvarez for this reason.

This competition, whose honorary president is Miguel Barnet, is sponsored by the Cuban Book Institute, Casa de las Américas, and the Uneac, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Argentine Republic and the Alia Foundation.

Created in 2002 at the initiative of Lithuanian writer, literary critic, translator, and diplomat Ugné Karvelis (1935–2002), Cortázar's last wife, with annual frequency, with the objective not only of honoring Cortázar but also of encouraging narrators from around the world who write in Spanish to write short stories, in its 17 editions it has been won on twelve occasions (including this latest award) by writers from the island, and once each by representatives from Cuba/Russia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico.