The Casa de las Américas Prize (''Premio Literario Casa de las Américas'') is a literary award given by the

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Casa de las Américas Casa de las Américas is an organization that was founded by the Cuban Government in April 1959, four months after the Cuban Revolution, for the purpose of developing and extending the socio-cultural relations with the countries of Latin America, ...

. Established in 1959, it is one of Latin America’s oldest and most prestigious literary prizes. The award is presented for works in Spanish, Portuguese, English, and French by writers from Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to the main categories of fiction, poetry, and essays, there are categories for narrative and children's literature.

History

The award was founded in 1959 as the Hispanic American Literary Competition (''Concurso Literario Hispanoamericano''), as a Latin American counterpart to the British

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

and the U.S.

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

. It was renamed as the Latin American Literary Competition (''Concurso Literario Latinoamericano'') in 1964, and has been presented under its current name since 1965. Since 1960, the main categories are novels, poetry, short stories, drama, and essays in Spanish. In 1970, a new category was added for testimonial narratives, and in 1973, the awards in the essay and ''testimonio'' categories were expanded to include works in Portuguese by Brazilian authors. A category for children's literature was added in 1975, and works by Caribbean authors in English and French have been eligible in all genres of fiction since 1976 and 1978, respectively. Since 1978, works by Brazilian authors in Portuguese are eligible in all categories. In 2000, three honorary awards were established in the categories narrative, essay, and poetry. Due to the growing diversity of genres and categories, awards in some categories are now presented in alternate years, and awards are not always presented in every category.

Winners

Juries for the awards are made up of prominent writers, academics, and intellectuals from throughout Latin America. Scholars and writers who have won the prize include

Edward Brathwaite The Honourable Edward Kamau Brathwaite, CHB (; 11 May 1930 – 4 February 2020), was a Barbadian poet and academic, widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon.Staff (2011)"Kamau Brathwaite." New York University, D ...

Humberto Costantini Humberto ''"Cacho"'' Costantini (April 8, 1924 – June 7, 1987) was an Argentinian writer and poet whose work was influenced by Buenos Aires slang (porteño). Biography Costantini was born in Buenos Aires, the only child of Italian Jewish im ...

Eduardo Galeano Eduardo Hughes Galeano (; 3 September 1940 – 13 April 2015) was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left". Galean ...

, Renato Prada Oropeza,

Susana Rotker Susana Rotker (3 July 1954 – 27 November 2000) was a Venezuelan journalist, columnist, essayist, and writer. Biography The daughter of Jewish immigrants, Susana Rotker graduated from Andrés Bello National University in Caracas in 1975, was an ...

, Rachel Beauvoir-Dominique, Françoise Perus, Beatriz González-Stephan,

Anthony Phelps Anthony Phelps (born August 25, 1928) is a Haitian Canadian writer, whose novel ''La contrainte de l’inachevé'' was a Governor General's Literary Award nominee for French-language fiction at the 2007 Governor General's Awards. Born in Port-au- ...

Luis Britto García Luis Britto García (born 9 October 1940, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan writer, playwright and essayist. His fiction has been recognised twice with the Casa de Las Américas Prize, for his works ''Rajatabla'' (1970) and ''Abrapalabra'' (1979). In ...

and

Abel Sierra Madero Abel Sierra Madero (born in Matanzas, 1976) is a Cuban author and scholar who was awarded the Casa de las Américas Prize in 2006. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Havana (2009) and second PhD in Literature from New York Univer ...

. Among them are many recipients whose work was virtually unknown and who are now widely read and translated into many languages, such as

Jorge Enrique Adoum Jorge Enrique Adoum (June 29, 1926 in Ambato – July 3, 2009 in Quito) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, politician, and diplomat. He was one of the major exponents of Latin American poetry. His work received such prestigious awards as the first ...

and

Roque Dalton Roque is an American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface. Popular in the first quarter of the 20th century and billed "the Game of the Century" by its enthusiasts, it was an Olympic sport in the 1904 Summer Games, replacing cr ...

. The Casa de las Américas Prize has been credited with attracting international attention to

Latin American literature Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the ...

, and with contributing to a major literary renaissance that resulted in the awarding of the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

to writers such as

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

in 1971 and

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter, and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one ...

in 1982.

Notes

References

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External links

Premio Literario Casa de las Américas
Official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Casa de las Americas Prize Awards established in 1959 1959 establishments in Cuba Cuban literary awards