It was announced today that the winners of the Alejo Carpentier Awards for 2010 are Cuban writers Rafael De Águila, Ernesto Peña, and David Leyva. The prizes are awarded by the Alejo Carpentier Foundation and the Letras Cubanas press. De Águila won the short story prize for “Del otro lado,” which displayed “Artistic intensity and a high control of craft.” Peña won the novel prize for La Biblia perdida, which was praised for “the originality with which it recreates a period of Cuban history rarely addressed in Cuban literature.” Leyva won the essay prize for his work on “Virgilio Piñera o la libertad de lo grotesco,” which displayed “richness in its use of sources, clarity in its prose, and originality in its arguments.”
The selection committee included writers Francisco López Sacha, Pedro de Jesús and Daniel García, for the short story competition; Miguel Mejides, Lourdes González and Ana María Muñoz Bachs, for the novel; and Reynaldo González, Enrique Saínz and Marta Lesmes, for the essay.
Prizes will be awarded during Cuba’s 19th annual International Book Fair in January.
For the original announcement (in Spanish) go to http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cultura/2009-12-29/entregan-premio-de-narrativa-y-ensayo-alejo-carpentier-2010/
Repeating Islands 