Ambassador Guillermo Piña Contreras was awarded the Eduardo León Jimenes 2019 National Book Fair Award for his novel “La reina de Santomé”. He is the Dominican ambassador to the Netherlands and is based in The Hague.
The novel had been launched this year at the Madrid Book Fair. It recreates life in the province of San Juan de la Maguana in the mid 1900s during the Trujillo dictatorship. The award comes with a RD$1 million cash award. His daughter Pamela Piña received the award from Culture Minister Eduardo Selman at a ceremony at the National Library on 1 May 2019. The award is sponsored by the Eduardo León Jimenes Foundation and the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana, the Presidente beer brewery.
The voting jurors this year were Juan Daniel Balcácer, Ylonka Nacidit Perdomo and Alejandro Arvelo.
Born in Santo Domingo in 1952, Piña Contreras is a recognized writer and diplomat. He has been Dominican ambassador in Argentina, France, and Morocco. He is a member of the Dominican Language Academy. He was appointed ambassador to the Netherlands in 2014.
Read more in Spanish:
Hoy
Diario Libre
See more Santo Domingo Book Fair events at:
Santo Domingo Book Fair schedule
2 May 2019