Description

The book of poems Agonía de la reina gathers the testimonies shared by three characters concerning the stages of their love story: surrender and ecstasy, bewilderment and mistrust, pain and absence, freedom and possibility. With an open heart and without any irony, each lover recognizes his and her ambivalence; after mending the affronts, the lyrical force of their statements allows for the emergence of a new and mature relationship.

The short story collection Inauguración de La fe portrays the ingenuity with which the inhabitants of a society stuck in absurd customs and a lack of resources survive. Humor gives way to compassion toward the protagonists and their vicissitudes: residents of a suburb entertain the mayor’s entourage, a compulsive liar borrows money while risking her life, teenagers try to prove their masculinity in a far-off town, a refugee seeks help, an indigenous man requires medical treatment from the public health system, a young woman loses her virginity in front a queue to use the bathroom.

Both works are assembled in this edition, which won the Ricardo Miró Prize (awarded by the Republic of Panama’s Instituto Nacional de Cultura), in the poetry and short-story categories, respectively.