Author Samanta Schweblin wins one million euros for Aena Narrative Prize

Argentine writer Samanta Schweblin won the first Aena Narrative Prize of €1 million for her book of short stories, The Good Evil. At the awards ceremony in Barcelona, the author of Fever Dream said the prize was “an embrace to Argentina’s literary tradition.” The author, a former National Book Award for Translated Literature winner and three-time Booker finalist, received the award from Spanish writer and jury member Rosa Montero during a gala dinner held on Wednesday. “This prize is not only a recognition of my work, but an embrace of the Argentine literary tradition, which has always known how to find beauty in the unusual,” a visibly moved Schweblin stated upon receiving the award. In her acceptance speech, she also thanked her family and dedicated a few words to the “broken, neglected, and abandoned” public University of Buenos Aires (UBA), which she identified as one of the places that nurtured her passion for reading and writing. The jury stated they chose Schweblin, who is currently based in Berlin, among finalists from across Latin America and Spain, and highlighted the author’s “unique style,” which combines the tension of a thriller with unusual philosophical depth. “The book stands out for depicting unsettling, fascinating, and complex new worlds in a single volume of stories. It masterfully explores the boundary between the possible and the impossible,” Montero stated. “It is a book of haunting beauty that places the tradition of the short story at its highest point,” she added. Originally published by Seix Barral and translated into English by Megan McDowell for UK publishing house Picador, the book prevailed over finalists Ahora y en la hora, by Héctor Abad Faciolince, Marciano by Nona Fernández, Los ilusionistas by Marcos Giralt Torrente and Canon de cámara oscura by Enrique Vila-Matas. The Aena Award for Hispanic-American Literature, launched in February of this year by Spain’s public airport operator, ranks among the highest paying prizes in Spanish-written literature. Apart from the million euros for the winner, finalists receive a 30,000 euro prize each. The Good Evil and other stories The six stories in The Good Evil explore the fine line between care and violence, drawing on magical realism, psychological fiction, and the dark side of fairy tales. In her New York Times review, renowned American author Joyce Carol Oates described The Good Evil short stories as “powerfully evocative and distressing”.  “They seem to float, like feverish dreams, between the comforting familiarity of domestic life and the raw, unpredictable and visionary flights of the unconscious. Everything exists in a state of tension, charged with contradictions.” With information from Ámbito