Ministry of Culture presents award to Nan Chevalier at the III National Contest of Mini Fiction

Ministry of Culture presents award to Nan Chevalier at the III National Contest of Mini Fiction
Santo Domingo,March 1, 2014

The award was dedicated to renowned Dominican writer Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, for being a pioneer in the creation of short narratives in the Dominican Republic.

Santo Domingo -. Last night, storyteller and poet Nan Chevalier received the sole prize awardee by the III National Contest of Mini Fiction, for his work “El domador de fieras y otros nanorrelatos” (The beast tamer and other mini stories). The contest was organized by the Ministry of Culture and the award consisted of a certificate and a cash prize of RD$50,000.00

The Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage, Architect Nerva Fondeur, together with the Director of Books and Reading, Valentín Amaro, and the Director of Literary Management, who organized the award ceremony, and Mr. Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, attended the event.

In his key-note speech during the ceremony, Mr. Basilio Belliard took stock of the mini fiction forerunners in the Dominican Republic and the role that the Ministry of Culture has played in organizing competitions to promote them.

He said that the mini stories genre has been gaining momentum and fervor in recent years because there are many authors and young writers who promote it with enthusiasm.

After analyzing the winning work, he explained that it is a text in which dialogue and narrative and, in some cases, even proverbs and riddles, paradoxical images, and games of mirrors and shadows, come together in the manner of a fantastic kaleidoscope.

The event was dedicated to Veloz Maggiolo for being the living writer who is most accomplished and with the greatest international recognition, and one of the pioneers of the genre.

To conclude, Nan Chevalier thanked the Ministry of Culture and its officials, and dedicated the award to his friends and family, to the Marino Lebron Saviñón Workshop, which he coordinates, and to all lovers of reading and writing.

22 works from as many authors participated in the contest. The jury consisted of Ángela Hernández, Rafael García Romero and Luis Martin Gómez. Their decision in awarding the prize was warranted “by his mastering the art of the mini fiction, creativity in discussing the key issues being addressed, and the formal perfection of some of the works presented, including specific aspects of the genre.”