The Argentine writer Samantha Schweblin In recent hours, he has established himself as one of the most relevant figures in Spanish literature after obtaining the Aena Award of Hispanic American Narrativeendowed with one million euros, the highest financial recognition currently granted to a literary work in that language. The award recognized his book of short stories The good evil, published in 2025, a work that delves into family ties, pain and the ambiguous areas of the human experience.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1978 and raised in the Buenos Aires suburbs—with recurring references to her growing up in Hurlingham—Schweblin trained at the University of Buenos Aires and began her literary career in the early 2000s. Since then she has developed a work focused mainly on short stories, a genre that positioned her as a singular voice within contemporary narrative. She currently resides in Berlin, where she continues to write and give workshops, although she usually defines herself as “an Argentine writer writing from outside.”
His literary production includes story books such as The core of the riot (2002), Birds in the mouth (2009), Seven empty houses (2015) and the recent The good evilin addition to novels like Rescue distance (2014) and Kentukis (2018). These works share a recognizable stylistic mark: the exploration of the disturbing within the everyday, with plots that destabilize the reader from seemingly normal situations. As the author herself summarized, her literature seeks to operate at that limit: “The limit between the possible and the impossible seems to me to be the most literary zone.”
Throughout his career, Schweblin accumulated numerous international recognitions that consolidated his prestige. Among them stand out the Casa de las Américas Award, the Juan Rulfo Award, the Ribera del Duero International Award, the Shirley Jackson Award and the National Book Award for Seven empty housesin addition to having been a finalist for the Booker Prize on two occasions. These awards, added to the translation of her work into more than 40 languages, explain why she is considered one of the main representatives of contemporary Argentine literature on a global level.
The recognition obtained with the Aena Award not only reaffirms his career but also his commitment to the short story, a genre that historically had less visibility compared to the novel. In that sense, the author defended that choice with a phrase that summarizes her poetics: “Why waste time in 250 pages if I can tell it in 20?” This conception is reflected in short but intense stories, where the disturbing emerges gradually until disarming any sense of stability.
After receiving the award, Schweblin expressed a reaction that quickly went viral due to his tone far from any solemnity: “I don’t know what I will do with the million, my dream was to have a monthly salary.” Along the same lines, she added: “I don’t know how to count how much a million is… it’s something very strange,” evidencing a distance between the logic of the publishing market and her own experience as a writer. These statements reinforced an image of an author focused more on writing than on economic recognition.
In previous interviews, such as the one published by NOTICIAS and taken up in recent coverage, Schweblin had defined his work as an emotional exploration that directly challenges the reader. There he maintained that his stories “go to the heart from the state of alarm,” an idea that condenses his aesthetic search to generate discomfort and reflection from the minimum. This ability to build disturbing climates with economy of resources is one of the most outstanding features of his writing.
Critics agree that his literature is part of the tradition of the River Plate fantasy, with influences from authors such as Julio Cortázar or Adolfo Bioy Casares, but with his own voice that dialogues with contemporary problems such as technology, loneliness or family relationships. In this intersection between the local and the universal lies a large part of her international projection, which positions her as an author capable of representing Argentina in the current literary world.
With the Aena Award, Schweblin not only adds a new milestone to his career, but also reinforces the place of Argentine narrative on the global stage. Her work, marked by intensity, strangeness and a sharp look at what is human, continues to expand the limits of the contemporary story and consolidate a career that, for many critics, already places her among the most influential voices of her generation.
Image gallery
