The jury, composed of Cuban writers Mariela Varona and Laidi Fernandez de Juan, along with Argentine writer Kike Ferrari, awarded the prize to the collection of 11 stories, highlighting its technical and imaginative skill in portraying the reality of the island.

  The award-winning work, dedicated to the memory of intellectual Francisco Lopez Sacha, maintains a steady pace that alternates stark passages with imaginative transitions, all underpinned by a solid geographical, social, and political structure.

  The competition, founded in 1999 and inspired by the novel by Holguin native Reinaldo Arenas, is sponsored by Ediciones La Luz, the publishing house of the Hermanos Saiz Association (AHS), an organization that brings together the country’s young artistic vanguard.

  This twenty-seventh edition paid tribute to the Argentine Maestro Jorge Luis Borges and joined in the celebrations of the AHS’s fortieth anniversary, solidifying this region as an important epicenter for the development of contemporary narrative.

jdt/car/dpg