Luis Leante Wins Premio Alfaguara

By María Elena Cruz -- Críticas, 3/15/2007

Luis Leante’s Mira si yo te querré (“See How Much I Love You”) is the winner of the prestigious Premio Alfaguara de Novela. Leante (b. 1963), a Latin professor in Alicante, Spain, is the author of several published novels, including Al final del trayecto (“At the End of the Journey”; Odaluna, 1997), El criador de canarios (“The Canary Breeder”; Opera Prima, 1996), and Academia Europa (“Europa Academy”; Prames, 2003). He will receive $175,000, a sculpture by Martín Chirino, and the special marketing and publicity that Alfaguara always provides the winner.

Mira si yo te querré tells the story of physician Montse Cambra who, after losing a daughter and being abandoned by her husband, goes to the Spanish Sahara to look for her first boyfriend, with whom she shared a passionate romance 14 years before. A narrative of contrasting cultures and social classes frames this love story that plays out during the epoch in which Spain lost the last of its colonies.

Mario Vargas Llosa presided over the jury that chose the winning work from among the 574 original manuscripts submitted. Renowned writers José Luis Cuerda, Santiago Gamboa, Juan González, Mercedes Monmany, Francisco Martín Moreno, and Claudia Piñeiro were also members of the jury which highlighted “the expressive force with which [Leante] describes the sights and life of the last Spanish colony in Africa, the stage for a love story that marks the life of the protagonists.”

Alfaguara will publish Mira si yo te querré simultaneously in Spain and Latin America next month.