Best Book Edition Prize Awarded to Matanzas Intellectuals
Maylan Álvarez Rodríguez, writer, and Alfredo Zaldívar Muñoa, writer, playwright, essayist, and cultural promoter, both from Ediciones Matanzas, earned the 2026 Best Book Edition Prize from the Territorial Editions System.
The director of the Provincial Book and Literature Center in Matanzas, Efrahím Pérez Izquierdo, received the diploma this Saturday during the 34th International Book Fair in Holguín.
«This team is making history of professionalism and love for literature,» the official commented on Facebook, while the Provincial Director of Culture in Matanzas, Osbel Marrero Acosta, conveyed congratulations «to the Book Center of our province and above all to our writers for that recognition» — a congratulation joined by writers and artists from different provinces of the country and other latitudes.
Sigfredo Ariel: la vida en un trapecio (Sigfredo Ariel: Life on a Trapeze), the volume whose edition earned Zaldívar Muñoa and Álvarez Rodríguez the important recognition, gathers nine voices, dear to the versatile artist who died in 2020, that offer a song to his life and prolific work.
Regarding the recent publication of the text, Cuban intellectual Laidi Fernández de Juan, during its presentation at the Matanzas chapter of the literary festival, expressed that «it cannot be said that the most recent title from Ediciones Matanzas, Sigfredo Ariel: La vida en un trapecio, is just another book, a number added to its always carefully curated collection, nor a simple contribution to the catalog, because it is much more, from every point of view.
«More than homage, more than tribute, and certainly more than a handful of allegorical testimonies to the beloved artist, this book represents a symbology that must be noted from the very beginning, beyond the enjoyment provoked by the contemplation of the drawings, vignettes, chapter initials, and strokes that the brother of light lavished without giving greater importance to one of his enormous talents, which was visual art.»
Maylan Álvarez Rodríguez has published more than a dozen books in various genres and received prizes for her literary work and cultural promotion. She has obtained, among others, the Aldabón and Juan Francisco Manzano creation grants, the Annual Prize of Matanzas magazine; Prizes in the Milanés Provincial Debate Contest, Calendario Prize; the Memoria Prize from the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Center; the Digdora Alonso National Poetry Prize, the América Bobia, the Orlando García Lorenzo for criticism, the Félix Pita Rodríguez, and the Fundación de la Ciudad.
Among Alfredo Zaldívar Muñoa’s contributions to Matanzas and Cuban culture is having founded the emblematic Ediciones Vigía. Some of the prizes he has earned are the national poetry prizes José Jacinto Milanés and Adelaida del Mármol; the Extraordinary Prize for the bicentennial of José Jacinto Milanés, the Raúl Ferrer honorary cultural promotion prize, and the National Editing Prize.
The Provincial Book and Literature Center of Holguín annually awards the Best Book Edition Prize, with the purpose of incentivizing the work of specialists of the Territorial Editions System; this year dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the founding of Ediciones Holguín.
