Eduardo Daniel Rosell Herrera and Jessica Chabeli González Smith are colleagues in the literary world and partners in love. Together, they can be seen wandering around our city, leaving in their wake that “flash of light” that poetry provokes in us.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Recently, both were honored with the Calendario Award, the most important literary competition for young people in Cuba. Although it is not the first time that children of this land have climbed the podium of this contest, it reaffirms the literary tradition of these lands and the good wishes of novice creators to exalt it in different spaces.

Rosell won the prize in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category with Los cuentos de un tal Timoteo el bardo (The Tales of a Certain Timoteo the Bard), while Jessica received an honorable mention in Poetry with her work Canción del cuerpo a rastras (Song of the Dragging Body).

"This award gives me joy and strength to continue writing, but beyond the result, what satisfies me is seeing the book grow. I wrote it about a year ago. It took hours of editing and proofreading. However, I had a lot of fun; it's a notebook that I adore. Also, as I was writing, I read it to my daughter, who gave me ideas and is a kind of co-author," said Rosell.

For her part, Jessica said, “This is a very important contest. It represents encouragement, joy from the heart, a ‘don't give up’... My book is very special to me; it explores the essence and meaning of being human, taking us to everyday places and moments that shape us and, in the end, save us. It is so personal that we all end up finding ourselves in it.”

The Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS in Spanish), in co-sponsorship with the Cuban Book Institute and the Abril Publishing House, announces the Calendario Award in different categories, and the winners, in addition to receiving cash prizes, are honored with the publication of their work. Several young people from Las Tunas have won this important competition in different editions, including Junior Fernández, with Cantábulas y epopemas del bardo Pul Salalira (children's literature); Alejandro Rama, with Sinfonía de las cavernas (narrative); and Tomás Escobar, with Reconstrucción del paisaje (poetry).