The work of the Cuban writer Virgilio Pinera, and his contributions to literature 110 years after his birth, this week focused the debates on the 23rd edition of the Celestino Short Story Prize, which until tomorrow, Saturday, is being promoted from the eastern city of Holguin.
“All heads unite” was the title of the panel dedicated to recognizing the imprint of the important playwright, poet, narrator and critic, born in Cárdenas, Matanzas, whose work transcends for its creative rupture, the philosophy promoted in it and the peculiar way of assume reality, according to a report of the Cuban News Agency (ACN).
XXIII Celestino Short Story Prize.
“All Heads Unite”
Ana G. Ramos talks about Virgilio Piñera pic.twitter.com/aqg0e1zf75– La Luz Editions (@Ediciones_LaLuz) June 16, 2022
Led by the writers Rubén Rodríguez, Mariela Varona and Erian Peña, this space recognized Piñera’s extensive creation, an aspect that places him as an essential figure in the cuban literature, being an author who masterfully tackled all genres. The panelists highlighted the Cuban nature of works such as Cold air” and the poem “The island in weight”.
According to the ACN, Mariela Varona and Rubén Rodríguez referred in a particular way to the validity of Piñera in several generations of Cuban writers, who assume resources such as humor, irony and ridicule from the same Virgilian rope.
For his part, Erian Peña highlighted the work of the author of Electra Garrigo Y Rene’s meat as a translator during his stay in Buenos Aires, stage in which he joined the translation committee of the novel ferdydurkeby the Polish Witold Gombrowicz, a highly complex work, even in its original language.
Peña Pupo also commented on Piñera’s relationship with Argentine intellectuals such as Adolfo Bioy Casares, Victoria and Silvina Ocampo and Jorge Luis Borges, who included him in the renowned anthologies Short and extraordinary stories Y The book of heaven and hell.
The ACN recalls that the Celestino Short Story Prize has had an extensive program of activities, which includes panels, book presentations, narrative readings, children’s clubs and the award ceremony.
The contest, which emerged in 1999, is organized and defended by Ediciones La Luz and the Literature Section of the Hermanos Saíz Association in the province, and in its first edition the award was received by the narrator and journalist Rubén Rodríguez with the story “Flora and the Angel.
With the creation of this Award, Holguin writers and artists paid tribute to Reinaldo Arenas, born in the city of Holguín in 1943 and died in New York, in 1990Whose book Celestine before dawn made him one of the most important authors on the Island.
