The IV Vargas Llosa Prize for the novel is announced tomorrow

In Guadalajara, Mexico, tomorrow Sunday, the winner of the IV Vargas Llosa Prize will be announced, among the five finalists: the Chilean Alexandre zambra, for Chilean poet, Argentina Almada Rainforest, for Not a river, the Spanish Rosa Montero, for Good luck, the mexican Carmen Boullosa, with Eva’s book, and Colombian Juan Gabriel Vasquez, with Look back. A total of 412 works have been presented and the final decision is taken by a jury chaired by Argentina. Leïla warrior and composed of Raquel Chang Rodríguez, Efraín Kristal, Rosa Beltrán, Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente and JJ Armas Marcelo (Secretary with voice, but without vote), who must decide who is the author who remains with the price of $ 100,000.

In the previous case, in which the first twelve finalists had been selected, another Argentinian was also on this list: Dolores Reyes, for Eat dirt.

The result will be known tomorrow within the framework of the Biennale which takes place from Thursday under the slogan “Literature, last refuge of freedom”.

The Vargas Llosa Biennale was severely criticized in 2019, when it was celebrating its third edition, through a public letter in which dozens of writers criticized the gender disparity in the event’s panels (13 men and only three women), among the finalists (four men and one woman) and on the jury (four men, one woman).

Given this disparity, specify the signatories, it is not surprising that during the three biennials organized previously – 2014, 2016, 2019 – the winners were men.

“It is unacceptable that in the 21st century, in the midst of a wave of demands for equality, an event such as the Biennale of the novel Mario Vargas Llosa be organized without a gender perspective,” said the letter signed by writers such as Mariana Enriquez, Liliana Colanzi, Claudia Piñeiro, Rosa Montero O Juan Villoro and that he also demanded that the organizers “strive to resolve this historic inequality which has condemned women to a place of subordination and silence.”

In this edition, the panorama is different: there are two or three women in each of the eight panels of the event; three authors among the five finalists; and three women among the five members of the jury.

The event is developed through eight panels in which the authors participate in person and which the organizers have requested for vaccination certificates and PCR tests to attend. The panels can be viewed in the account of Facebook Biennial.

Among the authors who participate in these panels at the University of Guadalajara are the five finalists and 30 other writers such as Peruvian Santiago roncagliolo, Argentina Gabriela Cabezón Camera and Colombian Santiago Gamboa.

The prize is organized by the Vargas Llosa Chair and the University of Guadalajara Foundation, with the support of the Guadalajara International Book Fair; while the event in which the winner will be announced will be held at the Performing Arts Group of Santander and in which the presence of Mario Vargas Llosa is expected.

In 2014 he won Forbidden to enter without pants, from spanish Juan Bonilla; in 2016, If you saw yourself with my eyes, from Chilean Carlos franz; and in 2019, The night, from Venezuelan Rodrigo Blanco Calderon. So far, no author has won the Vargas Llosa Prize.

* Source: Telam

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