The Corripio Foundation and the Ministry of Culture awarded Soledad Alvarez the National Literature Award. The award comes with a cash prize of RD$2 million. She received the award at a ceremony held at the Manuel Rueda Library of the Corripio Foundation. Present was businessman Jose Luis Corripio Estrada, the cultural advisor Jose Alcántara Almánzar, and Culture Minister Milagros Germán.
The National Literature Award is the highest award to writers in the Dominican Republic. The jury’s verdict awarded the prize to Alvarez “for her linguistic and literary merits, her contribution to poetic creation and her valuation of the essay and critical reflection.”
On the occasion, Alvarez mentioned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had occurred two days before the jury had chosen her for the award. She said the violence of the war together with the horror of the deaths and devastation had motivated her to write a poem of love for the emigrants and refugees, “Love Humanity” that she read at the end of her acceptance speech.
Soledad Álvarez is an essayist and poet with a long career. She has published, among others, the poetry books “Vuelo posible” (1994) and “Las estaciones íntimas” (2006) and “Autobiografía del agua” (2015).
Alvarez has also served as assistant editor of the cultural supplement “Isla abierta” and columnist for the newspapers El Nacional, El Siglo and Listín Diario.
In 1980 she was awarded the Siboney essay prize for her book “La magna patria de Pedro Henríquez Ureña”.
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Listin Diario
17 March 2022