Havana honors María Elena Llana for her Cervantes Prize 2026 candidacy

October 23, 2026

Cuban writer and journalist María Elena Llana, winner of Cuba's 2023 National Literature Prize, was honored on Wednesday, October 22, at the Dulce María Loynaz Cultural Center in Havana's Vedado district for her candidacy for the 2026 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the top award in Spanish-language letters. Writers Marilyn Bobes and Yeilén Delgado took part in the event, Prensa Latina and the Cuban News Agency (ACN) reported.

The nomination came from Dr. Alejandra Giovanna Amatto, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who sits on the prize jury on behalf of the Union of Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean. Amatto called her one of the most original and influential short-story writers in contemporary Cuban literature, and the Cuban Book Institute formally backed the bid. On hearing the news, Llana said she was "very happy" and called the nomination "the greatest honor."

Born in Cienfuegos on January 17, 1936, Llana debuted with La reja (1965), a landmark of Cuban fantastic fiction, and returned in 1983 with Casas del Vedado, which won the Cuban Critics' Prize. Her other books include Castillos de naipes, Ronda en el Malecón and Tras la quinta puerta. As a journalist she worked from 1959 to 1992 for outlets including Prensa Latina, where she was bureau chief in Beijing.

She is the third Cuban woman to be put forward for the Cervantes, after Fina García Marruz and Dulce María Loynaz, who won it in 1992. Cuba has three winners: Alejo Carpentier (1977), Loynaz (1992) and Guillermo Cabrera Infante (1997). The €125,000 prize is due to be announced before December 10, 2026.