Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Orlando Rodríguez Gets the Big Prize for Little One
April 18, 2008

The Miami based author Antonio Orlando Rodríguez and winner of the 2008 Premio Alfaguara for his novel Chiquita (Little One), was finally awarded his prize in Madrid this past Friday, the 18^th of April. He was given his tiny Martín Chirino statuette and a grand sum $175 by Ignacio Polanco, president of Grupo PRISA and brother of the late Isabel Polanco. A bittersweet moment since his sister was the force behind created the Alfaguara prize and giving its cache. In his acceptance speech, Orlando Rodríguez summed up much of what Isabel Polanco and the prize intended to do, unite the Spanish-speaking Americas and Spain around one book. "I am thankful for the bigger prize that lies behind this prize: The opportunity to reach readers in Spain, Hispanic America and the United States. Can someone think of a greater privilege? I can’t.”

But not all of the Spanish speaking countries were receptive to the honor. Orlando Rodríguez, who has lived outside of his native Cuba for 17 years, lamented over Cuban authorities’ disinterest for the novel’s success. Despite this, he said he wanted the prize to also be an honor to Cuban letters saying that: “Literature is above governments and ideologies.”

His biographic novel about a tiny Cuban ballerina named Espiridiona Cenda who was only 2 feet 2 inches tall was one of the, ahem, bigger metaphors in his speech. "Little things, whether they’re human beings or nations, have the right to be respected and heard. Greatness does not have a size.” Too true. And here’s an El Pais video link  to a talk and a reading by the author from his highly-awaited novel.

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on April 18, 2008 | Comments (0)