Portal de Cartagena

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Writer Daniel Cotta, winner of the XXXIII edition of the Antonio Oliver Belmás International Poetry Prize (18/11/2019)

The Reception Hall of the City of Cartagena has been filled this morning, November 18, with poetry with the public reading of the ruling of the XXXIII edition of the Antonio Oliver Belmás International Poetry Prize.

This year, the winner has been the writer from Malaga, Daniel Cotta, with his work 'Alpinistas de Marte'.

The act, which began with a theatrical poem of the play 'Dice Kabir and other poems', performed by Charo García, has been assisted by the Councilor for Culture, David Martínez and the Councilor Delegate for this area, Carlos Pińana, also The Director of Culture, Chenchi Plazas, the Director of the Popular University, Pepe Macián, the Coordinator of Culture, Patricio Hernández and the General Director of Strategic Projects of Historical-Artistic and Cultural Heritage, Damián Pérez Olmos, attended.

The Failure of the Antonio Oliver Belmás International Poetry Prize is an act that tries to remember and claim the memory of a poet committed to his time, among other initiatives he founded the Popular University of Cartagena in 1932, and whose poetic and critical work has It was recognized as one of the most significant of the generation of 27. Following this award, the poetic festival Deslinde was created, which is held every year and is organized by the Department of Culture.

The Councilor for Culture, David Martínez, recalled that this contest can compete "all the poets who want it, regardless of their nationality, provided that their works are written in Spanish."

In addition, he pointed out that â€śthe poems presented have a maximum of 1,500 and a minimum of 700 verses, their form and content being totally free.

Likewise, each poet can only compete with an original that must be rigorously unpublished. â€ť

The Councilor for Culture, Carlos Pińana, explained that â€śin 2017 102 works were submitted to competition, which in 2018 received 165 and in 2019 we received twice as many participating works from two years ago, reaching the level of 215 works.

This data reveals the unusual interest of the Poetry Prize in the national and international scene coming from different countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba and Chile and other cities in Spain â€ť.

This prestigious international award has jurors as renowned poets, such as Eloy Sánchez Rosillo, a poet who in 1977 was awarded the Adonáis Award;

Luis Alberto de Cuenca y Prado, member of the Royal Academy of History since 2010 and winner of the 2015 National Poetry Prize;

Vicente Gallego Barrado, winner of the 2001 Loewe Poetry Prize and the 18th Generation International Poetry Prize of 27 obtained in 2015;

Manuel Ramírez Giménez, writer and editor of Pre-texts;

as well as Blanca Andreu Fernández-Albalat, poet who in 1980 won the Adonáis Prize for Poetry.

And as secretary of the jury, José Macián Montesinos, director of the Popular University.

Pińana stressed that â€śof these 215 works, the jury has had the difficult task of selecting 8 for the final phase, highlighting that the quality of the poems has been remarkable and, therefore, the laborious task.

In the words of the jurors there were several works worthy of the prize.

The winning text of this year's award is 'Alpinistas de Marte', by Daniel Cotta Lobato.

In him the poems are drawing a trip through the sky, where the lyric is intertwined with the scientific and in which the poet is presented adopting various avatars.

We could consider it science fiction love poetry.

He reads fluently and his music is excellent.

In it we can find from a transcript of 'The Little Prince' in the 'Letter to an exiled', to a tribute to Gongora, which he places in a symbolic Saturn.

The Prize is endowed with 6,000 euros for the best work submitted to the jury's judgment and the prize-winning work will be published by the Pre-Textos Editorial, which will be responsible for disseminating and publicizing it.

The act has ended with the reading of various poems by the jury and a poem by Miguel Hernández, by Charo García.

AUTHOR PUBLICATIONS AND AWARDS

Daniel Cotta Lobato was born in Malaga on September 25, 1974 and teaches Spanish Language and Literature at a Secondary Institute in the town of La Carlota in Cordoba.

These are some of his publications:

Novel: Videogame life

Novel: The Goblin of Video Games

Poetry: Beethoven explained to the deaf

Poetry: God in a half voice

Anthology: Erotic Seville

Anthology: God is poetry today

Poetry loose in literary magazines: Córdoba in May

Poetry loose in literary magazines: Voladas

These are some of his awards:

XX Rafael Guerrero Minimum Theater Contest 2019

Albacara Prize for Mystic Poetry of Caravana de la Cruz 2018