The annual prizes for literary criticism 2013, organized by the Cuban Book Institute [Instituto Cubano del Libro] and coordinated by the publishing house Editorial Arte y Literatura, were awarded on September 18 at the Dulce Maria Loynaz Cultural Center in Havana, Cuba. The prizes were awarded by Zuleica Romay, president of the Cuban Book Institute, and Víctor Rolando Malagón, director of Editorial Arte y Literatura. They also announced the call for next year’s awards, which will choose the best essays, articles, and reviews published between January 1 and December 31, 2014. [We extend our most sincere congratulations to the winners, with the warmest applause for Emilio Jorge Rodríguez and Luisa Campuzano, scholars with whom we have had the pleasure of collaborating and whose work we admire and respect.]

The jury for this year’s competition, chaired by writer Mirta Yáñez, evaluated 19 works by 9 authors decided to confer an award to Laidi Fernández de Juan for her review of Variaciones al arte de la fuga (published in La Jiribilla) for its clarity and the ability to motivate the readers’ interest with commendable simplicity and effectiveness.

Emilio Jorge Rodríguez was also awarded for his article “De unas ínsulas multilingües y sus escritores” [On multilingual isles and their writers], published in Revolución y Cultura; he was honored for the quality of his writing, accessible but profound, and his well-documented exploration of the Caribbean literary world in its current coexistence in diversity, its historical trajectory and geographical ramifications.

The jury conferred an honorable mention to Cristhian Frías for his essay “Virgilio Piñera: la negación como destino” [Virgilio Piñera: denial as destiny] published in La Siempreviva, for his well-argued inquiry into the literary and social legacy of Virgilio Piñera.

Dr. Luisa Campuzano was also awarded for her essay “Hacia los protagonistas, escenarios y motivos habaneros de El siglo de las luces” [On the characters, settings and Havana-based motifs of Explosion in a Cathedral], published by Casa de las Américas, for her scholarly elaboration of the motifs of the novel by Alejo Carpentier and diligent tracking of the sources that inspired him to create his characters and situations, using the author’s papers to provide a rich dialogue between reality and fiction.

For original article (in Spanish), see http://www.cubarte.cult.cu/periodico/noticias/173334/173334.html