"For me, the mini-story is the literature of the future. The world has become faster and in this maelstrom that traps us, where we have almost no time, this type of narration becomes ideal," says the young writer Lester Fernández Ballester, who has just won a mention in the 14th edition of El Dinosaurio International Contest (The Dinosaur), awarded the day before at the San Gerónimo University College in Havana, during the 31st Havana International Book Fair.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Lester awarded work is entitled El expreso oriental (The Eastern Express), which reaffirms his mastery of short stories; especially, since he also was granted a mention in that contest, in 2018.

In dialogue with 26, the author of the book Cuestión de Origen (El Taller Blanco Ediciones, Colombia), affirmed: "My interest in the mini-story was born from the brevity with which it is lived. I started writing them about five years ago. At first, my stories were one or two pages long, but they gradually became shorter. That doesn't mean I can't write longer texts."

The also head of the Literature Section of the Saíz Brothers Association (AHS) in Las Tunas, added about the interstices that surround the micro-story: "The writer must cultivate the craft to master all possible compositions, although he will always have a certain inclination for some. However, the economy of language has a lot to do with the author's style and mastery of technique. In that sense, one must be careful not to use disproportionate use of adjectives and literary devices such as metaphor and simile, because the intention is to tell a story with few words; it has to be like a burst or a shot."

"In addition, inside it can inhabit metaliterary stories, with references to universal culture, it is something deep. Although I do not tie myself to any theme, I can be inspired by any element of reality. And when it comes to writing, I always look for peace to concentrate better."

Lester is a hyperkinetic young man when it comes to cultural creations and initiatives. On the one hand, he is concerned about Martí's saying that every word should have wings and color; on the other hand, he is working on La isla devorada. Antología de cuentos breves cubanos contemporáneos (The devoured island. Anthology of contemporary Cuban short stories), because he is interested in making Augusto Monterroso's passion fall in love with new literary talents and reach more and more Cuban and foreign audiences.

He considers that this type of structure has been marginalized in Cuba. Hence his persistence in cultivating and defending it, although he also writes poetry, novels, and long stories. "Poetic compositions such as haiku and tanka, Japanese literature, glimpse the ability of the brief to suggest and capture scenes of reality. Several theorists in Latin America promote research on the mini-story. However, at the country level, much remains to be done. Although it is encouraging that the literary training center Onelio Jorge Cardoso and the contest it organizes, in which I got a mention, defend it."

About the award in the contest named after the giant vertebrate that dominated the Earth some 160 million years ago, the boy comments: "Participating in a contest that pays homage to Monterroso is significant in itself, in addition to the relevance and visibility it has, as it allows your work to be known and disseminated nationally and internationally. El expreso oriental is about a train that travels and leaves a person behind; the plot involves the things that surround it, the mystery, with a character close to science fiction."

As he walks in the footsteps of the author of El Dinosaurio and others like Eduardo Galeano and Alberto Sánchez Argüello, he remembers specially his genesis in that world of tiny fascinations, when his first mini-story, Muerte Primaveral, was born (with full awareness of it).

Ballester, a graduate in Social Communication, currently works at the provincial radio station Radio Victoria, collaborates with entities such as the Center of Books and Literature on these premises, and is always formulating new initiatives in pursuit of the artistic development of the territory.

He is also a member of the José Martí Cultural Society (SCJM), is an honorary member of the Grafomania Project (Guantánamo), is included in several anthologies (such as the one recently published under the title Cenizas en mi corazón) and has won other garlands in his young list of honors, such as being the winner of the Planeta Cuba International Short Story Contest (2015), getting a mention in the second edition of the mini-story contest Abriendo Puertas, at the same level (2015) and being a finalist in the II International Literary Contest Letra de Kmbio (2022). In addition, he has approached journalism and filmmaking.

Nevertheless, his true passion -without a doubt- is found in those challenges of fiction that lead him to create stories like this one: "The writer resented not being able to be original. He looked at the still-clean page on the typewriter (he always despised technology).
He typed in his two favorite words: story, and silence. And he found a story. He took out the sheet, put in a new one, and wrote the title: The Tale of Silence. The story would have three blank pages.