The National Novel Award “Sara Gallardo” was instituted by the Ministry of Culture in 2021 and has among its objectives to recognize the quality and literary diversity of the current narrative panorama in our country and to distinguish the best novel published in the last year written by cis women, lesbians, transvestites, trans, and non-binary. During Thursday afternoon, it was held at the National Bicentennial House the award ceremony. In an act headed by the minister Tristan Bauer The main recognition and the mentions of the second edition of the contest that recognizes the quality and literary diversity were delivered.
In the 2022 edition, 91 works from different provinces of the country were presented, published by both independent labels and large publishing groups. The jury, made up of Maria Rosa Lojo, I Acevedo and Esther Cross selected 10 finalist novels: “Olympia” by Betina Gonzalez “Monchi Table” by Marina Closs, “The conch” by Graciela Ada Batticuore, “The Yankee” by Delfina Korn, “The Fire Between Us” by Fernanda Laguna, “Before I Disappear” by Sylvia Iparraguirre“Poor hearts” by Melina Torres Outlet by Laura Liebana, ”Kaidu” by Paula Pérez Alonso and “A family under the snow” by Monica Susana Zwaig.
The prize of this 2nd edition went to Paula Perez Alonso and his novel Kaidu. In addition, the works of Marina Closs, Sylvia Iparraguirre, Laura Liébana, Melina Torres and Betina González. The writer María Rosa Lojo, representing the jury, congratulated all the contest participants and highlighted the diversity of voices and styles of the works presented. About the winning novel she expressed: “He stands out for his highly personal approach and fluid writing, both informal and sophisticated. Because of his conceptual and narrative freedom, and because of the implicit questions he raises about relationships, love, grief, and communication.”
After thanking the choice of his novel Kaidú, Paula Perez Alonso He said about the award: “I think that the reasons that inspire this award, the focus placed on diversity in such an emphatic way, makes it a totally different award and it is necessary that it continue to focus on this. Sara Gallardo, as the guardian figure of this contest, it seems to me that It is a discovery because it is about a writer who was forgotten and who was rescued in recent years and now the new generations read her and others read her again”.
Regarding the award, the head of the Ministry of Culture highlighted: “This particular award is for the task that you carry out and share with us, for that bravery, courage and possibility of human beings to be able to write and put feelings into words, thoughts and reflections. We appreciate and value this work and from the Ministry we will continue with the “Sara Gallardo” contest and we hope that it will remain as a brand forever”.
For her part, the director of the Casa del Bicentenario, Augustine BalduzziAfter highlighting the investment of 2,000 million pesos made this year by the Ministry for the publishing sector, he explained: “When we thought of this award to make visible the Argentine authors that we have in our vast territory, we wanted to give circulation to all the authors, not only to the winners. From this idea we created the Sara Library, which we circulate with all those registered. This is only part of the programs carried out by the Ministry of Culture in order to accompany all instances of the value chain of the book sector”.
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