The Award House

From Monday 15 to Thursday 25, Casa de las Americas invites to different proposals as part of the 59th edition of its Prize, the oldest and most permanent literary gathering in our continent.

A special moment will take place on January 24, when Casa de las Americas will be honored with the UNESCO/UNAM Jaime Torres Bodet Award in Social Sciences, Humanities and Art in its second edition.

Dialogues among the public and the members of the jury, launch of magazines and the winning books in 2017, as well as the inauguration of an exhibition make up the collateral program of the Prize.

On Thursday 25, at 7:00 pm, the jury will announce the awarded works in the following categories in contest this year: short-story, theater, essay on artistic-literary theme; as well as works in Brazilian literature, with non-fiction books written in Portuguese.

The jury will also award books in Caribbean literature written in English or Creole.

Moreover, the literary institution has also called to the Women’s Studies Award.

And on Monday 15, it will set up the jury made up by more than twenty prestigious writers and personalities from twelve countries. Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez will deliver the speech of jury’s setting up. Thus, there will begin the tributes to take place this year, the five decades of the first concert that brought together on February 18, 1969 at Casa de las Americas three founding pillars of what was called later the New Trova (Song) Movement: Silvio, Pablo Milanés and Noel Nicola.

Later, the jury will work in the city of Cienfuegos, located on the central-southern coast of the island. On Saturday 20, at 11:00 am, the aforementioned city will house the launch of the winning books of the 2017 Casa de las Americas Award, as well as such magazines as “Casa de las Americas”, “Conjunto” and “Anales del Caribe”.

Then, in the evening, local “A Cuestas” Theater will stage “Zone” piece, by “La Fortaleza” Theater Company.

And on Monday 22, the collateral program of the Prize will kick off at Casa de las Americas headquarters in El Vedado, once the works of the judges have finished in the city of Cienfuegos. From 3:00 pm, the “Manuel Galich” Room will house the works of such panels as:

“Literary creation, editorial circulation and translation in the Caribbean”, with the judges of the Caribbean literature in English and Creole category, as well as “Saved pages or which ones would I take to the desert island”, a dialogue with members of the jury in the short-story genre.

That same Monday, at 6:30 pm, plastic arts will have their space within the program of the Literary Award with the inauguration of the “Digital Art Pioneers in the Art Collection of Our America” exhibit, at the Galería Latinoamericana of the literary institution.

On Tuesday 23, the panels will continue their work, always in the afternoon with two others. The first will be “Out of the canon: the other side of Brazilian literature”, with the judges of the Brazilian Literature Award; and the second “Critical experience”, a dialogue with the judges of the Prize in essay genre of the artistic-literary theme.

Moreover, the program includes the presentation of the winning books of the 2017 Casa de las Americas Prize and the latest edition of Casa de las Americas magazine.

On Wednesday, January 24, at 3:00 pm, the “Theater of the real and the social thing: 2018 Latin America” panel will take place, with the awarding judges in theater genre; and at 6:00 pm, the “Che Guevara” Room will feature the ceremony to hand over the UNESCO/UNAM Jaime Torres Bodet Prize to Casa de las Americas.

That award acknowledges the efforts of a person, group of people or international institution that has contributed to the development of knowledge and society through art, teaching and research in social sciences and humanities.

In the case of the House, it rewards its contribution to a better world, not only through its links with intellectuals of the region, but also for the narrow links it keeps with institutions and organizations, like UNESCO. The renowned Cuban cultural institution had previously been awarded with the UNESCO Simon Bolivar Prize in 2004.

The winners of the 2018 Casa de las Americas Prize will be announced on Thursday, January 25, at 7:00 pm.

With its literary contest, Casa de las Americas begins, like every year, its program in 2018, days for the intercrossing of the literature and the art that are born from the deep rivers of our America.

Translated by Jorge Mesa Benjamin / Cubasi Translation Staff