“What I always wanted to have all my life, since I left my parents’ house, was a salary. I think you work better knowing that you earn some money every month and it’s something I never had. And this number, which I don’t know what it is, I associate with this fantastic idea,” he said. Samanta Schweblin after receiving yesterday the AENA prize for Hispanic American Narrative, worth one million euros. Very smiling and as surprised as she was excited by the distinction for her storybook. The good evil (Random House in Argentina, Seix Barral in Spain), the 48-year-old Argentine writer confessed to the press that she still does not know what she will do with the money.
Last night, when going on stage to receive the award, the author of Birds in the mouth had said: “I’m in shock. I literally feel like I’ve just come off a roulette wheel. I thank the jury; it must have been very hard to be in their shoes. And I also want to thank three very special women who take care of me and my books: my Seix Barral editor Elena Ramírez, my Argentine editor Ana Laura Pérez and my super agent Johana Castillo.” And he dedicated the award “to institutions, such as the very bankrupt, neglected and abandoned Public University of Buenos Aires, and to my peers, enormous writers of my generation with whom I think of myself, with whom we read each other.”
After the ceremony, at a press conference, she added: “I feel grateful not only to individual people but to institutions that have helped me a lot. The first literary awards I received were state awards. The first prize was from the Chamber of Deputies of La Plata. A state award with state money that made me very happy. It was a prize for a haiku. “I was twelve years old,” he said. But above all I wanted to say something about the University (of Buenos Aires) because it is a very prestigious university that has given me a lot. I have had incredible teachers and Today the university is bankrupt, it is being defunded. There is no place for students anymore. “It was for many decades a national pride that we are losing and it is very painful to see that.”
Repercussions on social networks
As expected, the news of the “million euro prize” for the Argentine writer was a topic of conversation in X among writers, journalists, editors and officials. The writers came first Claudia Pineiro -“I bring you joy: Samanta Schweblin won the AENA award,” she posted, Victoria Liendo and the Peruvian Katya Adauifollowed by their colleagues Guillermo Martínez, Enzo Maqueira, Facundo Dell Aqua and Hernan Vanoliamong others.
The Nicaraguan author Gioconda Belli He warmly greeted his colleague: “My most affectionate congratulations to Samanta Schweblin for the Aena Award. Her work is groundbreaking and risky. It is good that those who contribute to the world of literature feel valued not only for love but also because it makes life and writing easier for them.”
“I am glad that the million euros remain in Argentine hands,” the writer posted. Nicholas Mavrakis-. I also wonder what those who are notoriously willing to sell their soul for a ‘like’ wouldn’t give in exchange for that little money.” For his part, the writer Luciano Lamberti He risked a comparative calculation: “rolón or felipe pigna earned much more than a palo verde selling books.”
“Let’s agree that Samanta Schweblin at this point in her career does not need an award to have her work talked about, The award needs an important author to validate itself beyond the amount it distributes.. “That would be my comment about the Aena prize of 1 million euros,” said the Chilean writer. Oscar Contardo. His colleague, the Chilean Rafael Gumuciohonored her in key: “I think it is impossible to say anything bad about @sschweblinmaybe that’s the only bad thing. Maybe if you think about it, that’s what’s terrible.”
On his Instagram account, after congratulating the author (he was not the only one to rename her “Samantha”), the writer and translator Jorge Fondebrider criticized those who criticized the AENA: “I do not know her personally nor do I have any commitment to her, which, I hope, gives more credibility to my words, now, when several writers of the language discuss whether it is right or wrong for a company to give a colleague so much money. Curiously, those who criticize this award are representatives of multinationals, whose main activity is not publishing.” On her Facebook account, the writer Monica Sifrim “he felt sorry for” the winner: “Poor Samantha Schweblin. Suffering the envy of so many writers. “I would put a little red ribbon on my wrist.”
The Minister of Culture of the city of Buenos Aires, Gabriela Ricardesjoined the celebration in X. “Congratulations Samanta Schweblin, one of the most universal Buenos Aires writers. “More than deserved the recognition!” he celebrated, in tune with the readers.
The audience is known to carry a flower in one hand and a stone in the other. “Literary (agent) awards,” he slipped Paula Pueblareopening the debate on the legitimacy of literary awards. Faithful to his iconoclastic style, the film and literature critic Quentin He believed that there was a “family resemblance” between Schweblin and Lucrecia Martel, “women of absolute adoration,” and considered that the stories of The good evil They were “ordinary.” Finally, he ironically accepted: “Okay. I give up. Samanta Schweblin is a great artist and a source of pride for the country.”
The writer Natalia Zito admitted that the “vindication of the story as if it were the poor relation of the countryside that he finally gets his recognition”, which occurred after the jury’s ruling was known, baffled her. “What logic guides that comment that thinks on the side of good, that: poor man, how good, now he is a millionaire,” she concluded. And the editor Julio Patricio Rovelli He joked about the sudden Shcweblinian fury: “Now everyone loves Sami: everything is so aspirational, (today) so milleist, middle class and nationalist… Look for honest fandonism!” “Most of the tweets I read from people who question Samanta Schweblin’s award are the meme of the friend who denies everything,” the writer said. Gilda Manso.
