Tag Archives: María Gómez Lara

The voices of Elena Medel and María Gómez Lara

Elena Medel wore black. María Gómez Lara chose a dress full of colours and a big green flower decorated her hair. They both belong to the same generation but their poetic voices are as different as their clothes, perhaps because a full ocean separates these two women. Medel, from Córdoba (Spain), reads her verses with a meticulous voice, full of rhythm, keeping her eyes on the book. Colombian poet Gómez Lara sways on her chair as pouring her strong voice which brings some anxiety to the room and tries to reach the gaze of the audience. Both of them, as different as they may seem, have been awarded with the 26th and 27th LOEWE FOUNDATION International Poetry Award for Young Poets, respectively.

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The LOEWE store at Gran Vía Street, in Madrid, hosted an evening of poetry reading bringing together two different ways of understanding and writing poems. “Poetry as a gaze to the world, not as a literary genre”, explained Medel. Gómez Lara, as soon as she started to read her work, said: “I am very happy that we write so differently and still we can enjoy poetry together”. These two women arose as poets from different referents.

Elena Medel remembered the women who shaped her personality (mother and grandmother) and read some poems she wrote still in her teens –Mi primer bikini– and also, among others, those written after her reflections on death. “My book Tara changed after my grandmother died”, explained Elena as she recited her poems on the multiple faces of love and loss.

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Poets like Emily Dickinson, the many heteronyms of Fernando Pessoa, her many changes of address and other personal experiences came out in the verses of María Gómez Lara. She read an unpublished poem recently inspired by the unpleasant weather of Boston, where she lives now. “I am from the Tropics: cold weather makes me sad”, she said. Years ago, when hurricane Sandy kept her hidden in her bathroom overnight, María wrote a poem titled “Conjuro”, which she also read.

“A poem -said Elena Medel- can be inside a novel, an essay, or a stage play”. Poems go beyond words and reach the readers. For María Gómez Lara, “To know that whatever you write alone has an impact on other people, is very nice”.

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Photographs: Elena Medel and María Gómez Lara with Sheila Loewe © Daniel Mordzinski para FUNDACIÓN LOEWE, 2015.

María Gómez Lara: poetry playing

Could anyone imagine a better way to celebrate the International Book Day than having a conversation with a poet? María Gómez Lara, whose book Contratono won the 27th Loewe Foundation International Poetry Award for Young Poets shows a big hope and on writing. “I think I cannot realise yet what it means”, says María.

G¢mez Lara - Daniel Mordzinski

This young Colombian had just finished her book and had started to look for an appropriate publisher when she heard about the Loewe Award. “I had read about it, but I could not remember that a Young Poets Award category even existed; when I found out, I thought it was just a signal: I had to try.” Her previous book was published three years earlier and she had been working on Contratono for two years, so the young poet felt that “even if I wished to keep working on it, the poetic voice was already there. After organizing the poems over and over, I felt that I had finally found the last piece of the puzzle”.

MGLlecturaContratonoMaría knew very well Elena Medel’s writings, the young poet awarded the previous year, and she admired her work. “I was very interested in her poems and I understood the poetic quality of the young winners of the previous years. That was one of the incentives to participate and I really enjoyed meeting her in person”. Among the books previously awarded, she remembers Los desengaños, by Antonio Lucas: “It is very well written; one can see from afar his poetic craft. I was lucky enough to have him presenting me in the Loewe ceremony”, she says; and Playstation, written by Cristina Peri Rossi: “Only when I was searching about the Loewe Award I found out that her book had won before, but I already had it in my library, among her other books: her poetry touches me”. María Gómez Lara admires the work of Óscar Hahn, the poet awarded together with her. She says it was “a very happy coincidence that we were both honoured the same year”.

She knew and admired all the members of the Jury. “It was just incredible to have the opportunity to have such a prestigious Jury reading my book. By chance, I was carrying one of the books by Ida Vitale in my bag during that Summer I was going to send my manuscript to the Loewe Award. Also by chance, she was a member of the Jury that same year”.

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The young poet hopes to “survive under the academic work that my PhD involves” as she is completing a degree in Harvard University, but she is also thinking about her next new book. María started to work on it while she was still writing Contratono. “I realised that some of my poems belonged to a different universe; I was already writing differently”. Gómez Lara has always shared her life with poetry. “Even before I could write, when I could merely play with words, I liked to repeat little verses making rythms; it was like playing. And poetry became the most serious thing for me. I mean, still a game. The most serious things about life are also sort of a game. Then, I kept on finding in poetry a place to hide, a home, a different logic, a new language; I found this music that moved me, this door towards so many worlds that nuanced the world.”

Photographs: María Gómez Lara © Daniel Mordzinski, 2015. With Antonio Lucas and her book Contratono © Eugenio Da Vila for Fundación Loewe, 2015.

From the other side of the Atlantic

Los ganadores María Gómez Lara y Óscar Hahn

“Loewe dares to honor what is neither trendy nor out of style”. Recognition, gratitude and respect for literature at its finest, distilled the words of Chilean poet Óscar Hahn (Iquique, 1938) as he received his Award.

The XXVII Loewe Foundation International Poetry Award announced the verdict of the Jury last November; months later, having the poems published by Editorial Visor, the winners met with the Jury and a selective group of guests related to literature, fashion, design and all the artistic areas that build the cultural activity of the Loewe Foundation. The Westin Palace Hotel, as every year, hosts the great festival of poetry.

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Hahn’s intervention was a hymn to the courage and perseverance of the Loewe Foundation in supporting poetic creation. He defined poetry as “a higher form of luxury, not meaning sumptuousness, but a unique and intense experience” although it is considered as “the poorest variant of literature; poor in sales but rich in attributes of the human condition”.

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Chilean writer Jorge Edwards presented Los espejos comunicantes by Óscar Hahn in a brilliant speech comparing poetry as a chain bringing distant times and names together; he explained that “prestigious poetry always has some prophetic condition.”

Colombian María Gómez Lara (Bogotá, 1989) received, grateful, the Young Creation Award for her book Contratono, which was presented by Antonio Lucas, previous winner of the Loewe Award. Using lucid words and emphasizing “the powerful voice” found in the verses of the young poet, he said that her work is full of “maturity but also full of surprise”. Moreover, her book shows that “she knows the best tradition of poetry”.

Sheila Loewe -Director of Foundation- and her father Enrique Loewe -President of Honor- embraced the attendees from the podium with the complicity of those who know they are surrounded by friends. They were openly pleased with their completed task.

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Enrique Loewe honestly appreciated the involvement of poet Pablo García Baena, who has decided that this will be his last participation as Jury of the Loewe Award, due to personal reasons.

Modesto Lomba y Enrique Loewe

Mr. Loewe also publicly showed his support and satisfaction with the new course taken by the Loewe Foundation, now led by her daughter. “Sheila and her team,” he said, “bring me serenity”.

This is the first time that the two Loewe Poetry Awards go to Latin American poets. The Loewe Foundation, satisfied by the strong ties that our common language provided, celebrates the arrival of two beautiful books of poems from across the Atlantic.

Poetry, once again, has demonstrated its ability to build bridges when genuine, calm and unprejudiced voice is risen.

Photographs: María Gómez Lara and Óscar Hahn; Ó. Hahn recives his Award with Jorge Edwards; M. Gómez Lara and Antonio Lucas; Sheila Loewe, J. Edwards, Ó. Hahn, M. Gómez Lara, A. Lucas and Enrique Loewe; E. Loewe with Modesto Lomba © Fundación Loewe, 2015.

Awarded poetry

Welcome to the blog of the Loewe Foundation. We are happy to announce that our blog starts a full section for our English-speaking friends and colleagues. Here you will find information about our projects on poetry, dance, photography, architecture and design.

This post is dedicated to the Loewe Foundation International Poetry Award.
Since 1987, this Award has been reaching the best quality in poetic work written in Spanish worldwide. The verdict of the Loewe Poetry Award is announced every year in November by the Jury, and the winning books are officially presented next March.

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Veteran poet Óscar Hahn (Iquique, Chile, 1938) is the winner of the XXVII Loewe Foundation International Poetry Award. His book –Los espejos comunicantes– brings two voices together, like a two-faced gaze. His poems show an intimate and retrospective thought, but also the idea of quotidianity that becomes tumultuous sometimes.

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The Young Poets Award was given to María Gómez Lara (Bogotá, Colombia, 1989) and her book Contratono. The Jury -chaired by Víctor García de la Concha and integrated by Francisco Brines, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Antonio Colinas, Pablo García Baena, Antonio Lucas, Soledad Puértolas, Jaime Siles, Luis Antonio de Villena and Ida Vitale- emphasized her “fresh and undeniable poetry, warning of her as a promising poet”.

Among the 845 participating books, 39 were finalists from 32 different countries. More than two hundreds manuscripts were sent from America, filling our record book as never before. The Loewe Foundation International Poetry Award has been convened since 1987 to “encourage the quality of poetry written in Spanish”. The Jury rewards an unpublished book over 300 verses and concedes a Young Poets Award to a poet under 30 years old. Colección Visor de Poesía will publish both books.

IdaVitale2014As every year, the Awards Ceremony and the books presentation will be held next March, in Madrid. The 13th of November, Sheila Loewe -Director of the Loewe Foundation- welcomed both Jury and media as Víctor García de la Concha read the proceedings and verdict of the Jury.

Finally, poet Ida Vitale presented María Gómez Lara’s Contratono and Luis Antonio de Villena introduced Los espejos comunicantes, the awarded book by Óscar Hahn. The reading of selected verses from both books revealed, once again, the magic and uniqueness inherent in exquisite poetry.

Photographs. The Jury: Soledad Puértolas, Pablo García Baena, Antonio Colinas, Víctor García de la Concha, Enrique Loewe, Ida Vitale. Luis Antonio de Villena, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, Jaime Siles, Francisco Brines, Jesús García Sánchez (Chus Visor), Sheila Loewe and Antonio Lucas. Luis Antonio de Villena presents Los espejos comunicantes, by Óscar Hahn. Ida Vitale presents Contratono, by María Gómez Lara © Uxío da Vila for Loewe Fondation, 2014.