by the El Reportero’s news services
Ernesto Cardenal
Nicaragua’s Ernesto Cardenal was announced in Madrid Thursday as the winner of the Queen Sofia Ibero American Poetry Prize, presented every year to a living author deemed to have made an important contribution to the cultural legacy of Spain and Latin America.
Established 21 years ago, the prestigious award that bears the name of Spain’s queen is accompanied by 42,100 euros ($55,700).
Besides his being a poet, the 87-year-old Cardenal is a Catholic priest who served as culture minister in the Sandinista regime that followed the ouster of the Somoza dictatorship.
His past literary honors include the Pablo Neruda Ibero American Poetry Prize.
The choice of Cardenal for this year’s Queen Sofia Prize breaks the institution’s unwritten rule that the award should alternate between Spanish and Latin American poets.
The 2011 prize went to Cuba’s Fina García Marruz.
“It was not just” that “someone so significant for 20th century poetry” as Cardenal should be excluded from consideration “for extra-literary reasons,” prize juror Luis Antonio de Villena said after Thursday’s announcement at the royal palace in Madrid.
Girl in Progress is the perfect movie for Mother’s Day
Grace (Eva Mendes) is a single mom, too preoccupied with “paying the bills” and herself to notice that her teenage daughter, Ansiedad (Cierra Ramírez) is in desperate need of her attention. When Ansiedad’s English teacher, Ms. Armstrong (Patricia Arquette), introduces her students to classic coming-of-age stories, Ansiedad decides to jump start her own coming of age and all the pain associated with it, as a shortcut to “adulthood” and more importantly a life without her mom.
As her misguided plan unravels, in some comedic yet poignant series of events, both Ansiedad and Grace must learn that sometimes growing-up means acting your own age.
Recently judged “Family-Approved” (ages 12+) by the prestigious International Dove Foundation, the film has already been attracting the attention and support of churches and organizations across the country including Life Teen and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC).
Mana Gets Panties Thrown at Them? Or Tapatio?
Maná, the popular rock band that originates from Mexico, were in Los Angeles to see the Coldplay concert when they were caught by a TMZ reporter.
The reporter didn’t hesitate in grabbing the groups attention with a racist question/joke, which wasn’t funny at all.
He asked the rock band whether they got “panties” or “Tapatio” thrown at them during their concerts. For those who don’t know, Tapatio is a popular Mexican hot sauce.
Like good sports, the members of Mana avoided the pun and said “of course, panties”.
Perhaps, some reporters should think twice before they make a bad joke. “Off the page” program brings to life true story of Oscar Grant
Under the auspices of the San Francisco Film Society’s Filmmaker360 program, the recently launched Off the Page series gave director/writer Ryan Coogler the invaluable opportunity to workshop his script for Fruitvale, the true story of Oscar Grant, with his lead actors Michael B. Jordan and Melonie Diaz, April 24 – 25 at the San Francisco Film Centre.
Fruitvale is the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008. In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009 Grant was fatally shot by a BART policeman. Fruitvale is a finalist for the Spring 2012 SFF/KRF Filmmaking Grant.
(Hispanically Speaking News contributed to this report).
