The Cuban writer Daina Chavianoresident in the United States, recently received an important award in the field of literature for children and young people, according to international media reports.
Chaviano obtained the prize awarded by the Banco del Libro in the Juvenile category for his book country of dragonsa collection of stories with which the writer had already won the Golden Age award in 1989, before leaving Cuba.
The work, however, was never published on the Island “because its publication was vetoed when I decided to leave the country,” assured the narrator a the new herald in an interview granted after deserving this new award.
It was in 1997 that it was published for the first time in Venezuela, through the now defunct publishing house Rondalera, and later it would appear in Spain under the Espasa Juvenil label. Twenty years later, the Norma Colombia publishing house included it in its “Out of Series” collection, and just with this edition it achieved the award.
“I received the news of the nomination from a message left by Fanuel Hanán, the book’s editor. Although I was very happy, I thought that everything would be there. It was also the editor who called me to tell me: We won! It only occurred to me to ask him: Are you sure?” Chaviano told the herald.
According to the publication, Chaviano wrote country of dragons after achieving notable success in Cuba with his celebrated book The watering hole of the dinosaurs.
“country of dragons was born from the desire to rescue or preserve values that we sometimes forget or relegate to the background: creativity as a source of transformation, the certainty that love and pain are part of human history, the value of diversity… I wanted to expose them indirectly, through stories that carry the breath of ancient fables and medieval legends”, he pointed out about this work.
On why she thinks her books continue to arouse interest in younger readers, the writer responded to the herald: “I suppose that their themes are still current or are still so important that they manage to displace that virtual universe that has taken over the new generations.”
The Banco del Libro award is given by the renowned organization of the same name, founded in 1960 and based in Caracas. With this award, the best books of children’s and young people’s literature are awarded annually.
Born in Havana in 1957, Daína Chaviano is considered one of the most important authors of fantasy and science fiction literature in the Spanish language, and has won numerous awards and distinctions. Among her books, titles such as those already mentioned in this note stand out, and others such as loving planet, fairy stories for adults, The male, female and hunger, the worlds i loveY The island of infinite loves.
