Argentinian Ariel Magnus Wins La Otra Orilla Award
By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 10/1/2007
Last month in Cali, Colombia, Argentinian Ariel Magnus received the 2007 Premio de Novela La otra orilla for Un chino en bicicleta (“A Chinese on a Bicycle”; Norma, 2007). The prize consists of US$30,000 and the publication of the winning work by Editorial Norma, of which La otra orilla is a literary imprint.
Un chino en bicicleta, which is not about a Chinese man on a bicycle at all, is the story of Ramiro Valestra, a young man from Buenos Aires who is kidnapped by a supposed pyromaniac after testifying against him in the case of fires in several businesses in the city. The accused then takes Valestra to the heart of Chinatown in search of the real person responsible for the fires.
Magnus, who lived in Germany from 1999 to 2005, said the fictional world he created was partly based on his return to Argentina and the influx of Chinese immigrants in recent years. “It’s not your typical novel about immigration,” he explained to the media, “but it is the typical novel in which the Chinese are the bad guys. [The novel] plays with the impression [Argentinians] have of China and its people [and] touches upon immigration and xenophobia….”
The jury, comprised of well-known authors César Aira (Argentina), Santiago Gamboa (Colombia), and Nuria Amat (Spain), selected the winning novel from among 230 manuscripts submitted from 15 countries. “[It is] a love story in which adventures, Chinese, and friendship abound,” Aira said of his countryman’s work.
View All Blogs
