Winner
Delfina Acosta, Versos de Amor y de Locura
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.
2012 Judges
Nancy Festinger, Laura Healy, and Gregary Racz
From the Judges’ Citation
“The title of Delfina Acosta’s impassioned book of poems, Versos de Amor y de Locura (Poems of Love and Madness), precisely reflects the matter and mood of these delicately crafted pieces. Acosta’s concision and controlled hendecasyllabic meter enable her to explore relationships happy and embattled, lovers absent and present, love worldly and divine, within the limits of relatively short lyrics. The poet’s nuanced use of figurative language and her speakers’ frequent exposure to nature and the elements imbue these poems with an intense and urgent poignancy. Birds are especially plentiful here, appearing by turn auspicious and ominous in tune with emotions conveyed. That so many of the pieces in this moving collection end on an interrogative note speaks to the inevitable uncertainty and risk involved in the heart’s unremitting pursuit of affection.”
Past Winners
Esteban Bedoya