Daily Headlines: June 12, 2015

* U.S.: Chicano author and activist Juan Felipe Herrera was named as the first Latino writer to serve as the U.S. poet laureate.

* Chile: Second half goals by Arturo Vidal and Eduardo Vargas were enough for Copa America host nation Chile to beat Ecuador 2-0 in the tournament’s inaugural match.

* Argentina: British Prime Minister David Cameron and Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner engaged this week in a war of words over energy firms seeking resources near the disputed Falklands.

* Venezuela: Jailed ex-San Cristobal mayor Daniel Ceballos ended his twenty day hunger strike that he went through in order to urge for the liberation of imprisoned political dissidents.

YouTube Source – PBS NewsHour

Online Sources – NPR, Goal.com, Bloomberg, Reuters

Roberto Bolaño wins major literary award

Chilean author Roberto Bolaño died in 2003 though he has received plenty of posthumous praise. The English-language translation of “2666” has wowed the world of literature and high expectations continue over the recent discovery of several “lost” manuscripts.

Before passing away, Bolaño wrote in one of his journals that “I am sure I will die unpublished.” Surely he would’ve never imagined that his work would receive major awards but that was the case last week:

Death is proving no barrier to the late Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño, who…added the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction to his roster of prizes.

The esteemed American award was given to Bolaño for his epic final novel 2666, which NBCC board member Marcela Valdes described as a "sexy, apocalyptic vision of history", a "work so rich and dazzling that it will surely draw readers and scholars for ages". Accepting the posthumous award on Bolaño's behalf, his translator Natasha Wimmer recalled he had once said that "posthumous" sounded like a Roman gladiator, the Associated Press reported.

Aside from Bolaño, Mexican-American writer Juan Felipe Herrera shared best poetry honors for his work praising Chicano identity.

The awards carry no cash prize yet are very prestigious and are the top literary honor in the U.S. Dominican author Junot Diaz won the National Book Critics Circle award for fiction in 2008.

Image- LAHT
Online Sources- Guardian UK, The Telegraph, Latina, Bloomberg, CBC, The Latin Americanist

Roberto Bolaño up for posthumous honor

Chilean author Roberto Bolaño died in 2003 yet his critical reputation among literacy circles continues to grow.

The late author’s book “2666” was named as one of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalists for fiction. Bolaño was posthumously acknowledged by the National Book Critics Circle though he faces stiff competition from other finalists including first-time author M. Glenn Taylor.

“2666” was first published in Spanish in 2004 and reviewers have called it a “disturbingly original...work of art” and an “awe-inspiring three-ring extravaganza of a novel.”

Bolaño passed away too soon at the age of fifty; as he said in his acceptance speech of the 1999 Rómulo Gallegos prize:

What's true is that I am Chilean, and I am also a lot of other things. And having arrived at this point, I must abandon Jarry and Bolivar and try to remember the writer who said that the homeland of a writer is his tongue…It sounds a little demagogic, but I agree with him completely, and I know that sometimes there is no recourse left us but to get a little demagogic, just like sometimes there is no recourse left us but to dance a bolero under the light of streetlamps or a red moon.

Also named by National Book Critics Circle was Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera for “Half of the World in Light”.

Image- New York Times
Online Sources- New York Daily News, BBC News, Reuters, Jacket Copy, New York Times, Times Online, Guardian UK