Chilean poet and teacher Rosabetty Muñoz is the new winner of the Ibero-American Poetry Prize

During this event, the Minister of Culture, Carolina Arredondo, announced the national poet and teacher Rosabetty Muñoz as the winner of the 2024 Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.

In addition to the Secretary of State, who led the deliberation as Minister of Faith, the occasion was also attended by the jury of writers in the field of poetry such as: Olvido García Valdés (Spain), Carmen Alemany (Spain), Washington Cucurto (Argentina), María Luisa Fischer (Chile), Cecilia Vicuña (Chile). In addition to the Executive Secretary of Books and Reading, Aracelly Rojas.

“The prizes serve to shed some light on a work that one would like to be strong and create dialogues with others. So when the group of readers grows, of course, it is important for poetry like the one I aspire to write,” said Rosabetty Muñoz, winner of the 2024 Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize.

And I add:

“In Chile there is invaluable poetry, varied, extraordinarily vital in the sense that it is recreated all the time, it has the paradox that it is read less and less, for example, in schools, in colleges, which is the place where I practically met her.”

Reasons

The minister mentioned the reasons that the jury gave in the minutes for choosing Muñoz as the winner of this important international award.

“Rosabetty Muñoz writes situated poetry. With extraordinary communicative effectiveness, she speaks to us about nature, the landscapes, the customs and rituals of the islands of Chiloé and how capitalism is accelerating the loss of lands and cultural forms. The author creates from the predation of these cultures, which she follows and documents poetically. “She observes in loving detail the destruction of those life forms,” she stated.

Furthermore, the secretary continued recounting the minutes: “From the conviction that our world is another, that the lost roots are irrecoverable, a critical perspective of the historical present emerges; and at the same time there is in his writing the impulse to restore what has painfully disappeared, which must be examined again in the word and with the word. The stark look at women and their place in our culture animates her work, it is a powerful constant that gives great strength and originality to her verses.”

Created in 2004, the Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize, biennial in nature, is awarded by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, through the National Book and Reading Council. The recognition is made to an Ibero-American author with an outstanding career, whose work is considered a notable contribution to the cultural and artistic dialogue of Ibero-America.

The award ceremony will be held soon where the author will be awarded a medal, a diploma signed by the Minister of Cultures, Arts and Heritage and 45 million Chilean pesos. In addition, a poetic anthology of the winner will be published, which will be available in all public libraries in the country.

Rosabetty Muñoz Serón

Chilean poet and teacher. She was born on September 9, 1960 in Ancúd, Los Lagos Region, Chile. The creator is linked to the cultural movements Chaicura of Ancud, Aumen of Castro and Índice and Matra of Valdivia.

She took her first steps as a poet in the Chaicura group and graduated as a professor of Spanish at the Universidad Austral de Chile. She published her first collection of poems, “Canto de una oveja del rebaño” (Song of a Sheep in the Flock), in 1981 when she was studying in Valdivia. In that city she wrote most of her second book, “En lugar de morir” (In Place of Dying), in 1987. Her third collection of poems, “Hijos” (Sons), was written in 1991.

Creations:

• Song of a Sheep from the Flock, El Kultrún, Valdivia, 1981 (2nd ed.: Ariel, Santiago, 1994).
• Instead of Dying, Cambio publishing house, 1987.
• Children, El Kultrún, Valdivia, 1991.
• Young ladies’ dance, El Kultrún, Valdivia, 1994.
• The saint, story of her elevation, LOM, Santiago, 1998.
• Shadows in El Rosselot, LOM, Santiago, 2002.
• Ratada, LOM, Santiago, 2005.
• In the name of none, El Kultrún, Valdivia, 2008
• Bone Dust, an anthology prepared by Kurt Fs Tácolch; Edicioneitas, Santiago, 2012
• Ceremonies, Tree Editions, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012
• Techniques for blinding fish, UV Editions, Valparaíso, 2019
• Ligia, LOM, Santiago, 2019
• Circular Mission, anthology, edition and notes by Vicente Undurraga, Lumen, Santiago, 2020

Acknowledgements:

• First Prize in the 1982 Austral University of Chile Competition.
• Third place and First Mention in the Apollinaire Contest of the Federico Santa María University 1985.
• Honorable Mention in the 1992 Santiago Municipal Poetry Prize for Hijos.
• Honorable Mention in the Pablo Neruda Award 1996.
• Entel Award for Best Regional Writer 1998.
• Honorable Mention in the 1999 Santiago Municipal Poetry Prize for La santa, historia de una su elevation.
• Pablo Neruda 2000 Award for his entire work.
• 2002 Chilean National Book Council Award, best unpublished work, for Shadows in the Rosselot.
• Finalist for the 2009 Altazor Award with In the name of none.
• Regional Award for Art and Culture of the Los Lagos Region 2012
• Altazor 2013 Award for Bone Powder.
• 2020 Critics’ Award for Circular Mission (Circle of Art Critics of Chile).
• Chiloé Cultural Extension Award 2022.
• Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize 2024