“In a unanimous verdict, the jury chose to give the award to Yoro, the Spanish author’s first novel, for its originality and enormous power.
The jury for this prize, made up of the Mexicans Ignacio Padilla (who passed away on 20 August) Anamari Gomíz and Angelina Muñiz-Huberman, hailed Perezagua’s narrative style as well as the unconventional themes in Yoro, which it described as “raw, heartbreaking and powerful, it maintains its narrative tension with disturbing images, keeping the reader gripped to the page.” This edition of the prize received 80 entries from 19 countries. Conceived and named by the Nicaraguan writer Milagros Palma, it recognizes the literary work of women in the Hispanic world who have published a novel in Spanish. It is worth ten thousand dollars.”
The Author - Marina Perezagua - Spain
Marina Perezagua (Sevilla, 1978) is raved by readers and critics for her powerfully visual and mindbending narrative, making her truly unique on the Spanish literary scene. This began in 2011 with her first story collection Creatures of the Abyss, followed by Milk in 2013, which was book of the year according to Librería Sintagma. Her first novel titled Yoro was published in 2015 to enormous critical acclaim, leaving no reader indifferent and bringing further depth to the themes and the aesthetic present in her stories. Her work has been featured in several Latin American anthologies, as well as one on Stephen King, and some of her stories will be published in Spring 2016 in magazines such as Electric Literature, Granta en Español, Granta UK y Maaboret (in Hebrew). She has her degree in Art History and is now finishing her PhD in New York, where she has lived since 2001, teaching at New York University and other institutions. She has also lived in Lyon, where she taught at the Instituto Cervantes. She practices freediving and last year she swam across the Gibraltar Strait in less than four hours.
“A writer who could be the Djuna Barnes of the 21st century.” Sonia Fides, Heraldo de Aragón
“Few books will be remembered years from now, and among them will be those of Marina Perezagua.” Fernando Valls
“A stylist of great calibre whose imaginative style is always up to par with her narrative.” Mariano Cruz, Revista Vísperas
“Reading this writer is like going to watch the end of the world and seeing the four corners of a universe where the levels of reality fade out. She posesses a crushing command over describing the painful beauty hidden by the unsuspected. “ María José Obiol, El País, Babelia
“Marina Perezagua will leave much to talk about.” Antonio Paniagua, Diario de León
“A captivating and accurate prose.” Revista de Letras
“Unusual and lucid.” Julio Ortega, Brown University
“In this author’s voice and in her fist by fist sentences, there is a surprising calm, a certainty, a very beautiful hope. Something beats, something lives, underneath the debris of our own being. She offers an unbreakable voice, an austere, precise pace of someone who knows where they are walking, even if its through the darkness.” Ray Loriga
Translation by The Spanish Bookstage
