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Begoña Peris
not only is the current president of the Spanish Book
Club at the United Nations, but also the soul of the
Platero Award for the short story and poetry, the oldest
literary prize awarded in a non-Hispanic city, as is
Geneva.
‘The
Platters’ in 2010 celebrated its first 30 years, and the
last five under the direction of Begoña Peris, who has
given it a global dimension, attracting poets and
writers worlwide.
“When
I started to deal with this Award, we had 60
participants, mostly international organizations in
Geneva and in 2010 we had 872”, emphasizes Begoña Peris,
a native of Bilbao, who has lived in Geneva for 13 years,
a city that “she loves”.
The
departure of youth poetry
“With
this award I'm excited because I see that many people,
from young to old participate enthusiastically. Poetry
has hit a brutal shove, there is especially good poetry
in young people. I think last year we had a prize of
high quality”, she says with an air of satisfaction.
“It
is a contest that is now well positioned internationally.
We have a jury composed of 3 persons, mixed, and varied
nationalities. There are many people involved whose
mother tongue is not Spanish”.
El Platero is
given in June and the bases were published between
January and February. “It has grown a lot and there is
now more participation from Latin America, participation
is vital, thanks to the Internet”
But ‘The
Platters’ is not the only activity of the club.
“Another
highlight is the exhibition ‘Homage to José Maria Sert’,
which from next year will be called ‘Contemporary Art
Exhibition’ to make it more global, explains Begoña
Peris. On 9 February, the Club will organize a symposium
on the vernacular, with the participation of Kirmen
Uribe, who was the Spanish National Narrative Prize
winner of 2009; Manuel Rivas, author of ‘The Butterfly's
Tongue’ and the journalist canario Juan Cruz.
It also
highlights International Women's Day, which will be
celebrated with a series of activities at the Palais des
Nations, the headquarters of the Club.
Varied
Activities
Begoña Peris
recalls that the Club works with benevolent people with
a love of literature and art, “this gives much momentum
as you go for help with words that do not hide anything
behind, and that gives many answers”, she stresses.
“We
have a lot of work, we have some accounting and treasury,
purely administrative, then we have a library with five
thousand volumes that we are constantly updating, we
have Spanish-language films from many countries,
Colombian, Argentina, Mexico, and Chile.”
“The
films, books and magazines are provided, but one must be
a member of the Club, the membership costs only 50SFR a
year. That is our treasury. We have no subsidies from
the UN. Our members come from all the international
organizations. What is curious is that we have many
partners who are not Hispanic, such as Greek, Italian,
Moroccan and Romanian. That shows that the Spanish
language is very strong.”
A group of
enthusiasts
From the human
standpoint, Begoña Peris stresses the vitality of the
management team. “These are people with great enthusiasm,
we move a lot, always trying to find aid, as we have
been mounting a show with artist Andrew Castel, we have
also obtained the collaboration of sculptor Omar
Fornasari, to pay tribute to the city that hosts us.
When people see the enthusiasm with which we live, it
overflows. In that sense we have been very lucky, we
support the missions of Latin America, the International
College, especially the mission of Spain, which is
always there when we need something.”
The Palais
des Nations, a nice place to call home
“The
Palais des Nations is also a good claim, it is very nice,
very symbolic, especially for this book. The UN gives us
the rooms, which allows us to perform concerts. Also.,
the Security Service is helping, there are now fewer
problems so that people can attend the events we have
organized in the Palais des Nations”, she adds.
Is it not
old-fashioned, a Book Club in this age of multimedia?
“Maybe
that name is outdated, but the Club continues to have
its full meaning, but now with books in several formats,
certainly we could expand, but what we will find in
another name? It is our strength,” she concludes.
Swisslatin / Alberto Dufey (12/21/2010) |
