Náthaly Hernández Chávez: «Each book is an opportunity to learn a little more…».
The Calendar Awards ceremony was a tribute to the talent and consecration of writers. The winners of one of the most prestigious awards given by the Saiz Brothers Association (AHS) to young Cuban writers were Robert Ráez Ávila, in narrative; Wilfredo Roba Rodríguez, in poetry; Lioneski Buquet Rodríguez, in literature for children and young people; Matanzas native Iramís Rosique Cárdenas, in essays; and in science fiction, also from Matanzas, Náthaly Hernández Chávez.
Winners of the Calendar 2024 Awards.
«Every book is an opportunity to learn a little more in practice. I hardly consider myself a writer in training, I still have a lot to learn, a lot to improve.
«I am very happy to be able to share my work with readers and grateful to the AHS, to the contest judges, to the people who helped me evaluate my work, who gave me advice on how to finish this book.
«The biggest challenge I think is one with oneself, with being able to finish a story, to know how to do it. It would be to surpass my previous books and see what the future holds, which is constantly rising and you set the bar for yourself and you have to surpass it more and more.»
Hernández Chávez, a graduate of the narrative techniques course at the Centro Onelio Jorge Cardoso, explained the motivations that prompted her to submit her work to the Calendar Awards.
«I have been writing science fiction for some years now and this was really a new challenge because it is my first novel, my first attempt, my experiment. I was motivated because this is a great contest, one of the most important for writers under 35 in Cuba.
«Also because the Saiz Brothers Association, together with Abril Publishing House, does an excellent job in bringing out the books at a time when a physical book is a luxury. The main thing was the desire to win the contest and to surpass myself».
She also previews what the reading public can find in La biblioteca de Alexa, a futuristic dystopia about the link between human beings and artificial intelligence.
«It is a novel that deals with themes such as freedom, identity, the search for something of one’s own, loneliness, dehumanization. It revolves around dreams, that is the epicenter of what happens in the narrative. It plays with what is sanity, madness.
«It is a story that plays with technological issues that are just beginning, such as artificial intelligences, but that I propose in a more advanced future with direct and major influences on human life because electronic devices are already part of our body and that affects the quality of life of people.
«So it becomes a warning message about what this technology can end up in if we don’t know how to use it well or if instead of using it ourselves, we let it use us.»
Introduction of La hora violeta, by Náthaly Hernández Chávez, at the Havana International Book Fair.
The young journalist, editor, promoter and writer attended several events during the Book Fair in the capital as a guest, including the Seventh International Meeting of Poetry Promoters and the 13th Meeting of Young Writers of Ibero-America.
Náthaly will also share her literature at the Matanzas Book Fair, to be held from March 6th to 9th.
«There will be many presentations of novelties, both from Ediciones Matanzas and Aldabón, readings, my book La hora violeta will be presented again. The writers from Matanzas will be there supporting, sharing, celebrating literature, in spite of the difficulties, with much joy and love.
«It has been a great challenge, especially in the times we are living; however, both publishing houses have worked with their best efforts to continue producing books, both physical and digital, and to continue offering the reading public options of Cuban and foreign literature with high quality.»
Náthaly Hernández Chávez has won several literary awards, including the David Award for Science Fiction, in 2021, with her book Las azules colinas de Europa; the Celestino Short Story Award in 2023, thanks to her collection of seven stories, La figura en el puente, and the Eliécer Lazo Award in the Poetry category, also last year, with Balada del bazar de Babilonia, among others.
Written by Jessica Mesa Duarte.
