With regard to the celebrations for the Cuban Book Day and in the context of the 30th International Book Fair of Havana, the award ceremony for the 2021 National Prize for Literature was held this afternoon to Julio Travieso Serrano in the Nicolás Guillén hall of the San Carlos de La Cabaña Fortress .

For the writer of the novel El Polvo y el Oro (1993), this recognition constitutes « the most honorable of the awards that have been granted to me and, without a doubt, the most important in Cuba in the thorny, but fertile field where we sow our works » . In a few lines, he thanked those who accompanied him and accompany him today to create, and highlighted the support of the historian Violeta Serrano , his mother, and his wife Margarita.

In charge of the words of praise, Jesús David Curbelo made reference to the merits of Julio 's extensive production , among them his handling of the Spanish language. According to the poet and researcher, this award is testimony to the respect of the national legal community and thousands of readers who have experienced, through the pages of Travieso , unrepeatable journeys into the universe of fiction.

«Thank you, Julio , for what you have given us. We can only return you with the promise to read you again other times, so that each time you manage to tell us other mysteries of literature », he concluded.

Present at the ceremony, in addition to the members of the jury, were Alpidio Alonso Grau , Minister of Culture of Cuba; Miguel Barnet , honorary president of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC); Luis Morlote Rivas , president of the UNEAC, and the president of the Cuban Book Institute, Juan Rodríguez Cabrera . Other personalities such as Nancy Morejón , Reynaldo González and Neyda Izquierdo also attended .

Alpidio Alonso and Juan Rodríguez Cabrera presented the Prize –in its physical format–, accompanied by a bouquet of flowers and a work by the plastic artist José Luis Fariñas . Likewise, the prominent intellectual Miguel Barnet (National Literature Award 1994) read the minutes of the jury:

On the afternoon of January 6, 2022, at the Dulce María Loynaz Cultural Center, the jury for the 2021 National Prize for Literature meets, made up of Miguel Barnet Lanza, as president, and as members Jesús David Curbelo, Enmanuel Tornés Reyes, Alberto Marrero Fernandez and Teresa Melo Rodriguez. After intense arguments, the jury unanimously decides:

»To award the 2021 National Literature Prize to Julio Travieso Serrano, for the extraordinary merits of his narrative work, the rigor of his prose, where language, imagination and a solid structure shine.

Founded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba in 1983, the National Prize for Literature represents the most important literary recognition that is granted annually in the country to those who have enriched, from the art of letters, the legacy of the national culture with the contribution of a transcendent literary work.