Nicaraguan artist at the Palace of Arts in Mexico City Gioconda Belli (Managua, 1948) gave his acceptance speech yesterday. Carlos Fuentes International Spanish Language and Literature Award 2025It was announced in mid-October. A jury consisting of Mexican historian Rodrigo Martínez Baracs, Mexican writers Ana Clavel and Natalia Toledo Paz, Argentine writer Claudia Pinheiro, and Spanish poet Luis García Montero selected the book’s author. woman who lives “For its ability to renew Latin American poetry and the strength of the dialogue between society, history, and literature.” The event was held on the 1987 Cervantes Prize-winning author’s birth anniversary.
The prize of $125,000, a diploma and a sculpture by Vicente Rojo follows Beli’s 32nd Reina Sofia Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, which she won in 2023. She is a representative of Nicaraguan literature. Sergio Ramirezthe fourth woman to win with Carlos Fuentes.It was established in 2012 and has been awarded annually since 2018. The narrator and poet’s award was dedicated to “Nicaragua and its people, political prisoners and exiles” and to singer Norma Helena Gadea, who died on Monday in Managua at the age of 69.
“Although I am not planning a trip to Buenos Aires at the moment, there is always unexpected magic – said Beli in conversation with LA NACION – The Carlos Fuentes Award was a very pleasant stimulus and recognition of my work and work. I hope to continue to be a writer like Carlos Fuentes, always pursuing humanity’s desire to overcome the abyss and move towards equality and justice. Like Quixote, be prepared to say, “I am.” ”
Yesterday, after a lecture by Fuentes’ widow, the journalist Sylvia Lemus, he mentioned the correspondence between the works of the author of Fuentes. Terra Nostra The winner was Toledo Paz, who on behalf of the jury praised his “assertion and resistance.” Leonardo Lomeli Banegas, president of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said Belli “is a wonderful combination of aesthetics, intimacy, and introspection,” while Mexican Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel spoke to the author.
She said she almost missed the awards ceremony because the plane she was on with her husband broke down. “It’s been an incredible journey,” he summed up. Afterward, she admitted that she was touched by the award and remembered Fuentes, whom she affectionately called “the great magician of words.” “His presence was encouraging. We were struck by the constant reminder in his work that imagination has an umbilical cord with reality and political circumstances. According to Berri, the Mexican author would have been horrified by the “tyrannical trend” of the Ortega regime, which stripped Berri and Sergio Ramírez of their Nicaraguan citizenship and confiscated their property, among other arbitrary acts.
“Sergio and I have no fault other than the words we used. We have been victims of abuse of power and manipulation of justice in this country. -he accused-. We had to see how the memory of that revolution, to which we gave ourselves and who rightly unleashed so much enthusiasm on the world, has been misused. “At this point in life, exile and dispossession are difficult things.”
He stressed that Mexico was his first “safe harbor” and “the birthplace of a grand solidarity movement supported by many great Mexicans, such as Carlos Pellicer, Carlos Fuentes, Carlos Monsivais and Elena Poniatowska.”
“The legacy and symbolic aspects of the Sandinista revolution are today the screen behind which Nicaragua’s current rulers hide. -he warned-. And there are still people who support them despite the widely documented crimes and human rights abuses that show my country has once again become a dictatorship on par with Somoza or worse. ” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum does not support the Ortigas, but she also has not publicly criticized them.
“It is clear that times have changed, and the world is moving increasingly towards authoritarianism, racism, and the prioritization of the interests of big business and the super-wealthy. Great technology is being used for consumption, and paradoxically it brings us closer and informs us, but at the same time it distracts us and moves us away from a sense of community.” He hinted that it was the responsibility of intellectuals to “defend hope and faith in humanity.”
Before concluding, he acknowledged that he owes a lot to “Carlos Fuentes and his humanistic and mobilizing conception of literature,” especially with regard to the novel. Death of Artemio Cruzthe first book the author read. “I understood how words can bring characters to life, describe history and people, and help us understand them. Inside her – he called forth. I also understood the ambiguity of evil. I found in him the desire for my own identity and the confidence to take the reins and take risks from my imagination. And he gave me permission to believe in that famous debate between being a committed literary person and not being a committed literary person. He taught me how to be dedicated and cool at the same time. ”
“Literature is a type of memory and a means of repairing people’s souls -Berry concluded-. We are indebted to literature and language for bequeathing to our species an emotive language that expresses beauty and reveals the depths and heights of the human condition, a language that is at once intimate and allows us to recognize ourselves and immerse ourselves in the flow of stories and experiences that have made us as a species. I am grateful to life for providing me with a feast of intense experiences, both bitter and sweet. ”
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