In a formal event at the National Theater, essayist, storyteller, poet and playwright, 76-year old Juan Carlos Mieses Sanchez received the 2024 National Literature Award on Wednesday, 21 February 2024. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture and had the funding from the Fundación Corripio.
The president of the Fundación Corripio, Don Pepín Corripio, himself, had the pleasure of making the surprise call to Mieses Sanchez on 26 January 2024 to tell him he had been chosen. The award comes with a RD$2 million cash prize.
Juan Carlos Mieses Sanchez is a graduate in Philosophy and Literature from the University Toulouse-Le Mirail in France. He returned to teach Spanish and French at the Antera Mora High School in Puerto Plata.
He worked as a French language consultant at the Ministry of Education and translator at the Ministry of Agriculture. He taught French for many years at the Alliance Française of Santo Domingo. He also was part of the theater groups at the UASD and staff playwright for the Nuevo Teatro group. He is responsible for the script for several musicals. He has also worked for years as an independent editor. He frequently has been invited to speak at book fairs in the Dominican Republic, especially on the occasion of the putting into circulation one of his many books.
Several of his titles in various genres. Poetry: “Urbi et orbi”; “Flagellum dei”; “Here, Eden”; “Dulce et decorum est”; “Gaia”; “From the islands”; “Ode to the new world”; “Apocriphus” and “Walk on the Sea”. Theater: “The cross and the scepter.” Novel: “Everyone’s Day” and “The Doves of War.” Essay: “Apology of words” and “Paths like water.” Story: “The Resurrection of Dr. Blagger.” Anthology: “Absolution of étèrne.
Juan Carlos Mieses is a past winner of the Siboney Poetry Prize 1993, Siboney Poetry Prize 1995, Pedro Henríquez Ureña Poetry Prize 1991, FAO Short Story Prize 1984, Nicolás Guillén International Caribbean Poetry Prize 2001 in Mexico and Cuba and National Essay Award 2013.
The ceremony at the National Theater opened with singer-composer Jose Antonio Rodriguez performing the unexpected musical version of one of Mieses’s poems, “Mis palomas en el aire.”
Deputy Minister of Culture Gamal Michelén called Mieses a magnificent poet and novelist and story book writer, and a stupendous essayist with the mastery of the word.
The National Award for Literature is the most important recognition awarded to a writer for lifetime contributions and literary work. The 2024 award jury was made up of Editrudis Beltrán Crisóstomo, rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo; Secilio Espinal, rector of the Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher; Miguel Fiallo Calderón, rector of the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University, and José Altagracia Hazim Torres, rector of the Central University of Este. Likewise, it included Benito Ángeles Fernández, rector of the Catholic University of Santo Domingo, and Julio Sánchez Maríñez, rector of the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo, as well as Gamal Michelén, vice minister of Cultural Heritage; Bruno Rosario Candelier, director of the Dominican Academy of Language, and a representative of the Corripio Foundation.
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22 February 2024