Sergio Ramírez wins the 6th Mario Vargas Llosa Novel Biennial Award
The writer Sergio Ramírez , vice president of Nicaragua between 1985 and 1990 and Cervantes Prize winner in 2017, has won the VI Mario Vargas Llosa Novel Biennial Prize, worth $100,000, with his work 'The Golden Horse'.
The jury president, Juan Manuel Bonet , announced the winning novel at an event held Saturday night in Cáceres, which was also attended by essayist Álvaro Vargas Llosa , son of the Peruvian Nobel Prize winner ; the director of the Vargas Llosa Chair, Raúl Tola; and the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura , María Guardiola .
Ramírez (Masatepe, 1942), politician, lawyer, journalist and narrator, has stated that he belongs to a generation that "understood that it was worth dedicating oneself to writing, as Mario Vargas Llosa did with discipline, effort and perseverance", and "believing that literature is a true reason for living".
The winner also referred to the political situation in his country, "with a dictatorship worse than Somoza 's" that "has chained my country to a tragic destiny."
And he dedicated the award to all those who, like him, live in exile , "who, along with me, have been exiled and have had our citizenship taken away."
"I have a voice to represent them and pave the way for hope ," he said at the event.
'Minimosca' ( Gustavo Faverón , Peru), 'Bad hombre' (Pola Oloixarac, Argentina), 'Castles of Fire' (Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Spain), 'The Peninsula of Empty Houses' (David Uclés, Spain) and 'A Silence Full of Murmurs' ( Gioconda Belli , Nicaragua) were the other finalist works, whose authors were also present at the gala, which was also structured as a tribute to the Nobel Prize winner, who died last April.
Names such as Cuban Karla Suárez , with 'Lost Objects', and Spaniards Andrés Trapiello , with his novel 'They Ask Me to Return', and Manuel Rivas with 'Behind the Sky', were left out of the list of finalists , which was announced on September 29.
The award winner joins David Toscana (Mexico), author of "The Weight of Living on Earth," winner in 2023; Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia), with "Volver la vista atrás" (Looking Back) in 2021; Rodrigo Blanco Calderón (Venezuela), with "The Night" (The Night) in 2019; Carlos Franz (Chile), with "Si te vieras con mis ojos" (If You Saw Yourself with My Eyes) in 2016; and Juan Bonilla (Spain), with "Prohibido entrar sin pantalones" (No Entry Without Pants), winner in 2014.
The jury was chaired by Juan Manuel Bonet , critic and former director of the Instituto Cervantes, and included Cristina Fuentes , director of the Hay Festival; Valerie Miles, co-founder of Granta in Spanish; essayist Mercedes Monmany; and Daniel Mordzinski , popularly known as "the writers' photographer."
Freedom of speechIn her speech, the president of the Regional Government of Extremadura , María Guardiola , defended the word "against political opportunism , against fluid times, against unbridled voices, against cannibalistic acronyms, against populism and harangues."
In his opinion, "there is no freedom without the word flowing through our streets and our hearts."
Guardiola also noted that the edition was "historic" because "for the first time it crossed the Atlantic to establish a bridge between two shores: America and Europe ."
In addition to being the first to be held without Vargas Llosa , "a giant of literature," "here today, his legacy meets with our region's ' Extremestiza ' strategy, because we are the cradle of Hispanic heritage , and we are very proud of it."
Afterwards, essayist and son of Nobel Prize winner Álvaro Vargas Llosa spoke , emphasizing that "the name of Extremadura resonates in the historical echoes of many Latin American countries" and calling the literary competition a "huge success."
The president of the Vargas Llosa Chair also addressed the finalists , reflecting that "some of the greatest literary authors never won prizes," and citing William Shakespeare and Jane Austen.
"I hope to see you here again soon and that we can once again have a Biennial as successful as this one," he concluded.
Before the announcement of the verdict, the closing ceremony featured a discussion entitled "The Teachings of Vargas Llosa ," in which Mexican writer and journalist Ángeles Mastretta, Colombian writer and journalist Héctor Abad Faciolince , and Cuban-born writer and journalist Gina Montaner explored the Nobel Prize winner's memory.
A video was also shown featuring images of Mario Vargas Llosa signed by Mordzinski at the biennials he attended, along with more intimate snapshots of his family and friends.
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