National Poetry Prize Digdora Alonso Awarded to Pablo G. Lleonart

As «outstanding in the meticulous work of language, where the derivations of signifiers of the word become a play from the piercing, as if infinite deconstruction confronted us with a poetry that questions and illuminates us,» considered the jury of the 2026 Digdora Alonso National Poetry Prize when awarding the highest laurel to the work «Definiciones» (Definitions) by Matanzas-born Pablo G. Lleonart.

The jury, made up of Mercedes Melo, Maylan Álvarez, and José Manuel Espino, added that the notebook stood out for its «powerful mixture between writing devices and the purity of emotion.» They also expressed that they were «verses of our time, with numbers in between, with a charge of truth that shakes.»

Since its emergence at Ediciones El Fortín, inspired by poet and artist Rolando Estévez Jordán, National Design Prize, and now motivated by the 105th anniversary of Digdora Alonso’s birth, the contest was convened under the auspices of the Casa de las Letras that bears the name of the Matanzas poetess and teacher, jointly with the Provincial Book and Literature Center (CPLL).

The Prize to Lleonart was presented by Mario Sabines Lorenzo, First Secretary of the Party in Matanzas, accompanied by José Manuel Espino, representing the jury, and Alfredo Zaldívar, director of the Casa de las Letras and Ediciones Matanzas.

The official ruling stated that after evaluating the 57 notebooks submitted to the contest, it was decided to award First Honorable Mention to «Generación nula» (Null Generation) by Aimara G. Cabezas, based on «the authenticity of a poetics that, from postmodernity, proposes a look at contemporary man in his avatars before technologies and the turmoil in his own Tower of Babel.»

And honorable mentions were awarded to the poetry collections «El mesón del vidente» (The Seer’s Inn) by Luis Manuel Pérez Boitel and «El indomable lamento de la cigarra» (The Indomitable Lament of the Cicada) by Yoandry Martínez Rodríguez.

The awarding of this year’s Digdora Alonso National Poetry Prize was conferred at the inaugural gala dedicated to the 34th International Book Fair in Matanzas.

Also present were Governor Marieta Poey; Osbel Marrero, Provincial Director of Culture; and Efrahim Pérez Izquierdo, director of the CPLL.