Cuban Writer Wins Princess of Asturias Prize

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 11(acn) The Princess of Asturias Foundation announced on Wednesday in Oviedo, Spain, that it gave the Princess of Asturias 2015 Literature Award to Cuban writer and journalist Leonardo Padura (Havana, 1955), best known for his series of detective novels featuring Mario Conde.

Padura is the author of Pasado perfecto; Vientos de cuaresma (1992); Máscaras (1995); Paisaje de otoño (1998); Adios, Hemingway (2001); La neblina de ayer (2003) and Herejes (2013).
He achieved international success with his novel El hombre que amaba los perros (The Man Who Loved Dogs, 2009), based on the story of Ramon Mercader, murderer of Leon Trotsky. He has also written screenplays for cinema, short stories and essays, and published compilations of his interviews and articles.
The jury that conferred the award was headed by Dario Villanueva, and composed of Xose Ballesteros, Xuan Bello, Blanca Berasategui, Jose Manuel Blecua, Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Jose Luis Garcia and Berna Gonzalez, in addition to Alex Grijelmo, Beatriz de Moura and Rosa Navarro, Carme Riera, Fernando Rodriguez, Fernando Sanchez, Ana Santos Aramburo, Sergio Vila-Sanjuan, Juan Villoro and Jose Luis Garcia (secretary).
Padura has also won, among other awards, the Cafe Gijon (1995); the Hammett of the Black Week of Gijon (1998 and 2006); Las Islas (2000); the Prix des Ameriques insulaires et de la Guyane to the best detective novel translated in Germany and Austria (2004) and the Raymond Chandler (2009).
He has also been presented with the Francesco Gelmi di Caporiacco (2010) Award for El hombre que amaba a los perros, a book with which he has also obtained the Prix Initiales (2011), the Critics Award of the Cuban Book Institute (2011) and the Carbet Caribbean (2011), as well as the National Literature Prize (Cuba, 2012).
Likewise, he has the 2014 City of Zaragoza International Prize for Historic Novel and in 2013 he was given the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
A total of 27 candidates competed in this edition of the Princess of Asturias Prize, from Germany, Argentina, Chile, China, Cuba, United States, Greece, Guatemala, Japan, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania, Uruguay and Spain.