Ediciones La Luz announces winner of the Celestino Prize

This Friday, at the “Abrirse las constelaciones” club of Ediciones La Luz, this literary label of the Hermanos Saiz Association in Holguin announced the winner of the 25th Celestino Short Story Award, one of the most coveted by young Cuban authors.

After evaluating the 37 notebooks in competition, the jury, made up of Mario Bellatin, Eduardo Manet, Lourdes Gonzalez, Emerio Medina and Ruben Rodriguez, awarded the prize to “Morir un poco”, by Andy Jorge Blanco, from Matanzas.

Among the book’s values, the jury’s report points out “the focus of the anecdotes (without dispersion, digressions or convoluted exercises of style), the verisimilitude of the stories told, the concision of the plots, the precision and clarity in the definition of conflicts and the coherence in their resolution”.

It also highlights the good design of characters and atmospheres and formal correctness: neatness in the use of syntax, mastery of grammar, elegance in writing, harmony of sentences and other qualities of good literary style”.

Regarding the plots of the stories, it is recognized that they refer to national current affairs with their peculiarities, “but elegantly avoiding clichés and common places”, while the good handling of dialogues, the variety in terms of the chosen narrators and other technical virtues stand out.

About the award-winning author, the publishing house reports that he is a graduate of the Centro Nacional de Formación Literaria Onelio Jorge Cardoso and holds a Master’s degree in Communication and Culture from the University of Seville.

Jorge Blanco is also part of the anthology “Como si estuvieran hechos de arcilla azul”, he is the author of the book of interviews “La guerra no espera”, with which he finished his studies in Journalism and his poems have been published in the anthology “Colibríes sobre mares. Contemporary Cuban poetry around the world”.

The XXV Celestino Short Story Prize also awarded mentions to “Cómo deconstruir un cuerpo”, by Oscar Rodríguez Montes and “Juego de roles”, by Betsabeth Zaldívar Aguilera. / With information by Aniel Santiesteban García.