Microcentro Cuenta announced the 2025 winners: one Brazilian and two Argentines shared $4 million.

Microcentro Cuenta presented the publications of the winning books from the second edition of the literary competition : Microcentro Cuenta Terror and Microcentro Cuenta Historietas . The event took place yesterday in the auditorium of the Torre Macro (Av. Madero 1172, Buenos Aires City) before a large crowd : all the winners from both categories were present and, at the end of the event, were invited to appear on stage.

In the case of Microcentro Cuenta Terror (published by the emecé imprint of Editorial Planeta), Brazilian Lucas Magalhães Leiros won the competition for his story “El Pisapapas,” which prevailed over a total of 1,970 stories submitted and received the sum of 2,000,000 pesos.

The other winners were: Verónica Cassia, Mónica Jusid Huber, Yamila Bianco, Cristina Civale, Carlos La Casa, Lourdes Oliverio, Camila Parrotta, and Ana Sevilla, whose stories were published in the book accompanied by their respective profiles.

The book is 144 pages long and includes stories by nine writers who participated in the contest and were chosen by a prestigious jury: renowned writers Mariana Enríquez and Fabián Casas, and literary critic Lala Toutonián.

As in the first edition, the main focus was on telling short stories about Buenos Aires's downtown , the focus of the literary contest, as well as exploring new illustrations of the city to encourage artistic and narrative creation. The contest was directed by Javier Grosman and coordinated by Nacho Iraola.

Without spoiling his work, the winner of the second edition provided details about his story: why he wrote it and what inspired him, among other things. “ I had started a literary workshop. My biggest concern was how to write in another language. My story was written in Portuñol, not directly in Spanish. That showed me that the idea is stronger than language,” said Magalhães Leiros in conversation with Nacho Iraola.

His story tells the tale of a married couple going through a difficult financial situation: their water heater is broken, and the husband feels his wife is reproaching him for not being able to fix it. “When I started writing it, I was already writing horror stories. In the workshop, my teacher Andrea took a lot of objects out of her suitcase to write about. There was a potato masher in front of me, and my water heater was broken,” he joked.

" 'El pisapapas' tells the story of a very modern, very poor Argentina , where the two people who live in that house are practically jobless. It speaks to a certain unease: a street in downtown where people are rummaging through the garbage," Iraola commented.

“I arrived here in 2023. After the pandemic, I spent my time traveling. The first two years I traveled around Brazil while working for a month in each province. I wanted to learn Spanish: when I arrived here, I didn't speak any. That was my intention,” the Brazilian writer recalled.

Magalhães Leiros said she counts Mariana Enríquez among her favorite writers. “I don't know if I could write horror without reading Mariana Enríquez. She, along with Luciano Lamberti, were the first two books I read in Spanish.”

In the case of Microcentro Cuenta Historietas (from Planeta Comic), this 104-page book brings together the black and white comics of the 8 winners of the contest , with Ian Debiase and Ignacio Carloni receiving the sum of one million pesos each for their comics “El hidropájaro” and “Recuerdo”, respectively.

The other winners were: Sofia Gracia Grandinetti, Pitucardi, Ignacio Minaverry, Andy Riva, Mariano Antonelli, and Leonardo Arias Tozzoni. Their comics also appear in the book.

The jury was composed of Maitena, Miguel Rep and Martín Ramón , three experts in the comics genre, who selected the eight winners from a total of 176 participants, a considerable number considering the simultaneous storytelling and illustration in this genre.

Both books are available in bookstores nationwide, as is Microcentro Cuenta Cuentos, featuring the works of the winners of the first edition.

Winners Debiase and Carloni also shared their creative process with Martin Ramón, one of the jury members and a leading figure in Argentine comics. “ I used a digital technique. I work differently depending on the project and the moment: I make the sketch with a tablet and then use digital tools, trying to emulate the texture of diluted India ink or watercolor,” revealed Debiase, the winner for the comic “El hidropájaro.”

“ The technique came hand in hand with the idea. The fact that the comic had to be in black and white, one of the points of the contest. I saw the Microcentro in that grayscale with watery inks and a very watercolor aesthetic.”

Her comic strip features a mother walking with her daughter through a deserted downtown area . "The comic strip takes place at the corner of Reconquista and Bartolomé Mitre, where the bank designed by Clorindo Testa is located, but now houses the Mortgage Bank. It tells of a young girl meeting a homeless woman. The girl has some bills in her hand, as the mother had gone to the ATM to withdraw money, and she gave them to the girl.

For his part, Ignacio Carloni talked about the creation of "Recuerdo," the other winning comic: the story of a dog who walks through downtown and observes a mother dog nursing her puppies.

"It's a reminder of how the dog arrived in the Downtown area. I was drawn to those tall buildings, the shadow they cast on the corner. The dogs are in that shadow, like a refuge," explained its creator.

As for the technique, Carloni began creating comics with lines and paint. “The material is like asphalt cardboard. Then I add paint: I make stains and continue with the comic,” he revealed.

“Literary competitions are always a good way for writers to make themselves known , to be read,” said Nacho Iraola, coordinator of Microcentro Cuenta and former director of Editorial Planeta.

"When a competition is well-organized, with a prestigious jury, an interesting prize, and then the publication of the work by prestigious publishers, people respond ," he added.

“ Culture and writing are a refuge . These kinds of stories and these initiatives that Javier Grosman has, writing and narrative about the Microcentro, are about mental freedom; also about doing what you want with a carrot like a prize and a book,” Iraola concluded.

Javier Grosman, director of Microcentro Cuenta, continued along those lines. “Whether by chance or by some sort of terrible coincidence, right now, talking about terror, talking about fear, is what's happening to all of us, and also to the culture . Right now, fear and terror are an integral part of our daily lives,” he emphasized.

"Culture doesn't deserve to have a book at a time when places, centers, and concepts that we thought were absolute rights to us seem to be less vested than acquired rights, but rather, we have to constantly validate them every day."

“But culture is defending itself: 2,000 stories and 170 comics say that culture is alive , people are not only alive but they tell stories, because telling stories is being alive; it's the opposite of destroying, of undoing, it's the opposite of closing and shutting down. Even more so: we're even happier because, despite the fear and terror, this is still absolutely alive,” Grosman concluded.

The Microcentro Cuenta contest is made possible thanks to the participation of Banco Macro, Impulso Cultural, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, Mecenazgo, @leyendo.arg, and Grupo Planeta, the event's main organizers and sponsors.

The organizers are already preparing a new contest that will focus on nonfiction as its main literary resource. Participants will be able to find inspiration in new stories about the Buenos Aires City Microcenter.

They also announced that there will be a new jury specializing in this genre and more prize money. Some details still need to be finalized before the third edition is officially announced, which will be announced shortly.