Eliecer Lazo Creative Writing Grant to be Awarded in Matanzas.
Eliecer Lazo was a poet from Matanzas, author of, among other works, *Noticias del ausente* (News of the Absent One), which was published posthumously by Ediciones Vigía.
From today until next Sunday, young writers will fill several locations in the historic center of Matanzas during the Eliecer Lazo Creative Writing Grant, sponsored by the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS) and the Provincial Book Center to promote the work of young writers in the country.
The Colonial Courtyard, headquarters of the AHS, the Pharmaceutical Museum, and the Gener y Del Monte Library will be the main venues for the event, whose program will include concerts, book presentations, a photography exhibit, poetry readings, and discussions.
The jury, composed of poet, editor, and journalist Náthaly Hernández Chávez; journalist Humberto Fuentes; and Miguel Ángel Tamayo Álvarez, director of the publishing house Sed de Belleza, belonging to the AHS in Villa Clara, will be responsible for selecting the work that best meets literary standards from among the twelve submitted poetry projects, according to Boris Luis Alonso Pérez, vice president of the AHS in Matanzas.
The event is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm today at El Otro Café, a space coordinated by Alfredo Zaldívar, winner of the National Publishing Prize. This ninth edition of the prize will be dedicated to Humberto Fuentes. Music will be part of the opening with a concert by Javi Strings, along with guests from the University Extension project of the University of Matanzas.
A colloquium dedicated to poetry will continue the activities on Saturday morning, featuring writer Luis Lexander Pita, the first writer to receive the award. The colloquium will take place at the Pharmaceutical Museum. In the afternoon, the opening of the exhibition «Fracturaciones» (Fractures) by the young artist Andrés Castellanos from Villa Clara will be held at the Gener y Del Monte Library.
Following the opening, members of the Association will join their voices in a poetry reading. At the same venue, Aldabón will present its latest publications and announce the text awarded the creative writing grant.
Later, at 7:00 p.m. in the Colonial Courtyard, Santa Massiel will be the guest for the day’s musical closing. The Eliecer Lazo Creative Writing Grant will conclude on the 23rd at 10:00 a.m., also at the Hermanos Saíz Association headquarters, with readings of texts on Japanese themes and the Animat project.
The first call for entries for the competition took place in 1997. Initially, it awarded prizes only in the Poetry category, but due to the growing number of writers and journalists interested in the contest, the competition was expanded to include Short Story and Chronicle categories.
Among others, past recipients of the Eliecer Lazo Grant include writers such as Erián Peña Pupo from Holguín, Yeney de Armas from Havana, Alexander Jiménez del Toro and Jessica González Smith from Las Tunas, and Náthaly Hernández Chávez, Héctor Raúl Rivero, and Lisandra Pérez Coto from Matanzas.
Twenty-eight years after its inception, the creative writing grant reaffirms its role as a platform for promoting the consumption of quality young writers and celebrating poetry in the city’s cultural spaces.
Eliecer Lazo was a poet from Matanzas, author of, among other works, *Noticias del ausente* (News of the Absent One), which was published posthumously by Ediciones Vigía.
Written by Jessica Mesa.
