Since last Monday and the next January 25, th the 59th event of the Literary Awards of the Casa de la Américas center will be holding sessions in Havana and Cienfuegos provinces as one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the region.

In honor of the institution´s history and the many ones who have worked since the times of its foundation, the Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodríguez was assigned to offer the inaugural words and the information about the members of jury:

“Those ones who have been part of this Casa de la America center for 59 years, we have proofs that making the right thing is possible in the first place and the fact that the art and culture are part of its substance.”

“We also know that we have some inconvenient that might last more than what was proclaimed and the good can be made much more perfect. These are the reasons we are here with the willingness to be much better ones and keep advancing. This is why, we continue, not eternally. However, through the force of the habit and due to we continue working as we are capable to feel moved when we get to a place like this center.”

The selection about Silvio Rodríguez is also a related answer to an important cultural event that will be celebrated on the upcoming February 18th.

Thanks to the working people who organize and participate in the event, there are more than 200 works which are part of the contest through some sections: Story, Theater, Essay, Brazilian Literature, Caribbean literature (in English and Creole) and Studies about the Woman.

There will be three awards which will be delivered with an honorary category: The José Lezama Lima award (poetry), the José María Arguedas award (narrative) and the Ezequiel Martínez Estrada one (Essay). The new Latin American writers can aspire to them with their works of which their first publication in Spanish, weather it was from 2015 or 2016.

In the case of the essay, it will also be taken into account some texts in Spanish that include the Latin American themes and/or Caribbean people without restrictions in terms of the nationality of its creators.

According to Jorge Fornet, who is the director of the Literary Researching Casa de las Américas center:

“The idea was about bringing some perhaps unknown writers, but they have an important work. We tried to cover a wide spectrum of aesthetics, ages, geographic zones which give a wide idea about the literary work in the continent.”

As a new feature, the local Casa de las Americas center announced the related call for the also studies about the Latin people in the United States for Latin American writers who are residents in that nation. The volumes to be presented might be written in Spanish, English or in both languages.

On Octubre 2017, the then general director of the Unesco, Irina Bokova, granted the UNESCO/UNAM Jaime Torres Botet in Social Sciences, 2017 Humanities and Arts to the Casa de las Americas center.

The awarding ceremony will be varied out on the next January 24th in that same institution of the Cuban capital which is the occasion when it will UNESCO to reaffirm the commitment with the global agenda in favor of the inclusive societies, sustainable and peaceful ones.

The document that announces the award highlights the work carried out by the aforementioned center in the development and extension of the social and cultural relations with the nations of the continent and the rest of the world.