The writer and translator is one of the most prominent poetic voices of her generation
LLast week, at the Palacio San Miguel (Suipacha 84), the awards ceremony and annual celebration of the Argentine Foundation for Poetry was held, chaired by the writers Alejandro Guillermo Roemmers and Lidia Vinciguerra.The writer and translator Cristina Piña (Buenos Aires, 1949) received the Grand Prize of Honor 2023and the writer and cultural manager Martha Candiotti, the 2023 Silver Puma. The names of the winners of the unpublished poetry and podcast poetry contests were also known.
The Grand Prize of Honor was presented bythe writer and professor Ivonne Bordelois, through a video, and the writer and academic Antoni Requeni. The event was attended by, among other personalities of Argentine culture, María Rosa Lojo,Silvia Plager, Sandra Pien, Beatriz Isoldi, Santiago Sylvester,Dr. Gabriel Rabinovich, Osvaldo Rossi, Berta Bilbao Richter, Hector Berenguer, Amalia Mercedes Arabia, Liliana Allami, the lyrical singer Haydée Dabusti and Viviana Bermudez-Arceo. The musical moments were in charge of Marilis Luna Dávila and Fabián Giuri, and of pianist, composer and conductor Nazareno Andorno.
“I feel honored by this Grand Prize of Honor from the Argentine Foundation for Poetry because it is abouta recognition of all these years of writing -Piña tells LA NACION-. In addition, it is given by peers and is totally authentic because there is no money involved.I feel that it gives me a place alongside many other poets of the highest level who have been awarded in previous years. Finally, the high values of the Argentine Foundation for Poetry are an additional reason for pride and to it I offer my moved thanks.”
The Grand Prize of Honor has been awarded since 1968. It has been received, among others, by Juan L. Ortiz, Olga Orozco, Carlos Mastronardi, Alebrto Girri, Jorge Luis Borges, Raúl Gustavo Aguirre, María Elena Walsh, Mario Trejo, Armando Tejada Gómez, María Granata, Rodolfo Alonso, Juan Gelman, Horacio Salas, Graciela Aráoz, Alejandro Nicotra andSantiago Kovadloff.
Piña is the author of several books of poems (the most recent isanother of myself) and co-author of a biography of Alejandra Pizarnik. This year, he will publish his first work in prose, Memoria en la minor. “A text written several years ago and that now finds its perfect editor,” he says. Finally, I have finished a book of poems, Password, which is still in the process of being corrected, singularly long in my case.”
“A writer of extensive work, literary critic, translator and university professor, her work reflects, with personal style, her life experience and her literary passion,” says Vinciguerra about Piña.Recognized with important awards, she is one of the most outstanding poetic voices of her generation..”
During the meeting coordinated by Martin Wullich, several books were presented: a new volume of Contemporary Argentine Poetry, with poems by Nélida Arp, Jorge Alberto Chiesa,Oscar Conde, Ricardo Di Mario, Osvaldo Ferrari, Andrea Fontán, Ana Lema Conlangelo, Juan Carlos Moisés, Rogelio Ramos Signes and Emilce Strucchi, and the latest titles from the Los Protagonistas collection, with short essays on the works of Rafael Felipe Oteriño (written by Osvaldo Rossi), Santiago Sylvester (written by Liliana Díaz Mindurry) and Beatriz Schaefer Peña (written by Claudio F. Portiglia).
The winners of the 2023 Annual Unpublished Poetry Contest “Tribute to Alejandra Pizarnik” wereBeatriz Minichillo (CABA), whose book The Infinite Word was presented;Sonia Rabinovich (Córdoba), which won second prize, andMaria Teresa Lippo (CABA), which won the third. There were mentions for Claudia Tejeda (Córdoba), Silvina Vuckovic (Mar del Plata) and Mabel Sierra Karst (San Luis). The Foundation covered the travel and lodging expenses of the poets from the provinces.
The first prize in the 2023 “Alejandro G. Roemmers” Podcast Poetry Contest was won by Magdalena Pascual and Diego Longstaff (CABA); the second, Adrián Ducard (Córdoba), and the third, Ana Victoria Chaves (CABA). The total amount of the prizes for both contests represented the peso equivalent of 1,600 dollars.
Daniel Gigena
