Giaconda Belli Wins 50th Biblioteca Breve Award

By Jessica Bermúdez -- Críticas, 2/15/2008

Nicaraguan poet Gioconda Belli has been given the 2008 Biblioteca Breve Award for El infinito en la palma de la mano (Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand), her allegory about Adam and Eve in paradise. The members of the jury—José Caballero Bonald, Luis Mateo Díez, Pere Gimferrer, Rosa Montero, and Elena Ramírez—chose Belli’s novel because of its evocation of the anthropological myths of the human race. The prize, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, consists of ª 30,000 (approximately US$44,135) and the publication of the work by Seix Barral. The U.S. edition will be published by HarperCollins’s Rayo imprint later this year.

Born in Managua, Belli [El pergamino de la seducción (The Scroll of Seduction)], published her first work in 1970, the year she joined the Sandinista Front of National Liberation, a Nicaraguan political party and guerrilla group that tried to overthrow Anastasio Somosa’s dictatorship. She was forced into exile and lived in Mexico and Costa Rica until the end of the Revolution. Belli has received many awards for her works, including the Mariano Fiallos Gil Prize for Sobre la Grama (On the Grass), the Casa de las Américas Prize for her book of poems Fuego de línea (Firing Line), and the Premio de Bibliotecarios, Editores y Libreros (Librarians, Publishers, and Booksellers’ Award) for La mujer habitada (The Inhabited Woman).

Upon receiving the award, Belli described the difficulty she experienced in finding a new voice to convey the magic of ancient times and said that she ultimately let Eve guide her. She said her novel, which is dedicated to the victims of the Iraq war, is a metaphor about the human aspiration to live in harmony once again.