Winner
Raúl Silva Alonso, En Tacumbú (El Lector)
The PEN/Edward and Lily Tuck Prize for Paraguayan Literature has been established by a $100,000 grant from Lily Tuck to assist with the translation of Paraguayan literature from Spanish or Guarani into English. The award, which was conferred for the first time in 2010, carries a cash stipend of $3,000 for the living author of a major work of Paraguayan literature. Another $3,000 is given to the winning translator in order to bring the work to the English-speaking world. The translation prize is open to both established and emerging Paraguayan writers.
Judges
Idra Novey, Yvette Siegert, and Mark Statman
From the Judges’ Citation
The winner of the PEN America/Edward and Lily Tuck award for 2014 is Raúl Silva Alonso for his collection of micro-fictions, En Tacumbú. Like Robert Walser, Alonso’s micro-fictions are unpredictable, vivid, and radically unlike anything else being written in his country. The reality Alonso writes of in this collection is a fatally crowded and tragic one. Tacumbú is the largest prison in Paraguay’s capital city, Asunción. Amid frequent outbreaks of tuberculosis and gang fights, Alonso zeroes in on the sight of a red balloon passing over the prison yard, the curious food preferences of various inmates, and the unlikely friendships that develop between them. En Tacumbú is a book of great humanity and of mysterious moments of grace. We congratulate Raúl Silva Alonso on this exceptional collection of micro-fictions.
Past Winners
Delfina Acosta, Esteban Bedoya
Click here for addtional information, including submission guidlines, for the award.