The jury of the Casa de las Américas Literary Award has been presented in the Cuban capital at the Che Guevara Hall of the Havana based cultural institution.

Opening the renowned literary event which will run until January 28th was Colombian writer, Santiago Gamboa, who gave a lecture on creativity in writing. On hand were Abel Prieto, aid to the President of the Cuban Council of State and Ministers, Casa de las Américas President, Cuban writer Roberto Fernández Retamar, and the President of the Cuban Writers and Artists Association UNEAC, Miguel Barnet.

The jury is made up of prestigious Latin American intellectuals, such as Eduardo Lalo of Puerto Rico, Ana Quiroga of Argentina, Santiago Gamboa of Colombia, Ramiro Sanchez from Uruguay and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez from Cuba, in the category of short story; while Brazil’s André Carreira, Uruguay’s Mariana Percovich, Luis A. Ramos García from Peru-the US, Alejandro Román Bahena of Mexico and Fátima Patterson of Cuba, in the theater category.

In the category of essay the jury is made up of Sandra Lorenzano from Mexico and Argentina, Julio Ramos of Puerto Rico and Mayerín Bello from Cuba; while in Brazilian non-fiction literature Idelber Avelar of Brazil, Viviana Gelado of Argentina and Consuelo Rodríguez Muñoz of Mexico will decide on the winner.

Other categories include Caribbean literature in French or Creole and an award for the aboriginal cultures of the Americas.

The Casa de las Américas Literary Prize was called for the first time in April, 1959, with the objective of encouraging and spreading literature on the continent.