# Rogelio Riverón wins Julio Cortázar Ibero-American short story prize

**Date:** 09/05/2020

The work Polvo gris sobre los párpados, by renowned Cuban writer, critic, editor and journalist Rogelio Riverón, member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), won the Iberoamerican Short Story Prize Julio Cortázar, in its nineteenth edition. A text that, according to the jury's decision, stands out for the elegance in its narration, for the atmosphere achieved by turning a renowned author into a character and for skillfully assuming the hypertextual resource with which it achieves a just balance between the universal and the local.

The bilingual poster, also by Cuban Félix Sánchez, received First Mention, for the narrative mastery of a text that addresses with grace and wit the complex world of politics, in the form of a satirical parable that masterfully captures the reader's attention.

Due to the difficult pandemic situation existing this year, the competing works had to be sent and read in digital form by a tribunal made up of the renowned intellectuals Javier Villaseñor, Mexican, and Cubans Dazra Novak and Roberto Méndez, who in their statement expressed that they agreed unanimously:

Intended to promote the best of narrative creation in Spanish language, mentions were granted—at an identical level—to the following stories, which stand out for the diversity of their poetics, languages and procedures, but in which an undisputable literary quality is notable: Un pájaro posado sobre un cable, by Uruguayan Horacio Cavallo; Atravesar la noche, by Mexican Rodolfo Luna Rodríguez; La gorda Toglietti, by Argentine Marina Porcelli; El año del cerdo, by Cuban Rubén Rodríguez; and El manuscrito del herbolario, by Argentine Nelson Specchia.

The organizers acknowledged the considerable number of competing works, 813, from various nations in Latin America and other regions, many of them of appreciable quality, despite the serious health circumstances facing our Continent and the rest of the world, which evidences not only the international prestige that this competition has gained throughout its trajectory, but the conviction of so many writers that beauty can help save humanity.

The winning story will be published by the magazine La Letra del Escriba and Editorial Letras Cubanas will include it, along with the other stories that deserved Mention, in a volume that will be presented at the International Book Fair of Havana in 2021.

This competition was created by the initiative of the prestigious Lithuanian editor Ugnés Karvelis, who was a colleague of Julio Cortázar. It is sponsored by the Cuban Institute of Books, the House of the Americas and UNEAC, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Argentine Republic. Its Honorary President is Miguel Barnet and its Coordinator is Basilia Papastamatíu.