Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra (Santiago, 48 years old) has won the Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Prize awarded by the Chilean Ministry of Culture since 2012. The prize seeks to reward an Ibero-American author with a distinguished career and whose work is considered a notable contribution to the Ibero-American cultural and artistic dialogue. In its last edition, in 2021, it was delivered to the Argentine writer Mimbo Giardinelli. Other authors who have received this recognition are Argentines Ricardo Biglia, César Aira, Hebe O’Hart, and María Moreno; From Mexico, Juan Veloro and Margo Glantz; From Brazil, Rubem Fonseca; From El Salvador, Horacio Castellanos Moya. This is the first time that recognition has fallen on a national author.
“Alejandro Zambra’s work is rooted in the Chilean middle class and, thanks to its narrative power, it also radiates throughout the continent. It is the ordinary people, the common people, whose stories illuminate the scene. “The literature of Zambra is fundamental to understanding Chile in the last forty years.” He added: “His aesthetic search points to brevity and depth.” With a seemingly simple narrative style, he built, book after book, a distinctive sensitivity, and his authorial voice, far from deception, allows his texts to have an emotional charge. Intense and fluid close to the hair.
Meanwhile, the Chilean author, from his home in Mexico City, was electronically present at the ceremony. With an emotion that could be seen through the screen, Alejandro Zambra expressed himself succinctly: “Thank you, I am very surprised. In addition to thanking the jury, this is a very important award especially because it allows me to remember Manuel Rojas, who died 50 years ago and whom I believe belongs To all of us to that small group of school readings that have gone well beyond that category.” The author of such works as Bonsai (2006), Ways to get home (2011) and Chilean poet (2020).
In this edition, the jury consisted of writers Liliana Colanzi (Bolivia); Margarita García Rubayo (Colombia); Daniela Catrillo (Chile); Patricio Jara (Chile) and Mimbo Giardinelli.
The award consists of a medal, a certificate signed by the Minister of Culture, 45 million pesos (about 50 thousand dollars), in addition to an edition of the author’s poetry selections. The award will be presented by the President of the Republic, Gabriel Buric, at the La Moneda Palace on a date yet to be determined.
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