The 2018 Festival de la Palabra [Festival of the Word] opened tonight in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The festival runs from April 6 to 8, 2018, at the Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico. This year, the festival is dedicated to Tina Casanova.

According to Mayra Santos Febres, EFE reports, the festival opened with a first part under the motto #SeguimosEnPie, showing the work of 32 local writers exclusively, while in October, in the second part, there will be greater emphasis on an international authors, with about 35 guest writers participating.

This year, the Nuevas Voces [New Voices] Prize, awarded by the Festival, was given to two Puerto Rican writers, Tere Dávila and Juanluís Ramos. The recognition took place tonight (April 6) during the opening of the Festival.

Tere Dávila’s most recent book, the novel Nenísimas, won an Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP) award and will be launched on Saturday, April 7 at 2:00pm at the Festival of the Word. The latest publication by Juanluís Ramos is ShadowPlay (2016) addresses the issue of how to react when meeting [or finding] oneself. Or as Juanluís explains, “It’s about double encounters. It’s about seeing yourself and how you interact with that other you.” [. . .]

For more information, see https://www.efe.com/efe/america/cultura/el-festival-de-la-palabra-2018-puerto-rico-arrancara-con-una-version-criolla/20000009-3574623 and the festival page on Facebook.