An Unexpected Honor

A week ago today, I received the following message announcing that an article I wrote, and that was published in The Panama News, has been nominated for an international award:


Mr. Silvio Sirias
The Panama News
Panama

Dear journalist friend,

You wrote an article entitled “Me, the right winger,” which appeared in the January 20-February 2, 2008 issue of The Panama News.

The topic of your journalistic work meets precisely the themes defended by the Lorenzo Natali Prize! This prize, launched by the European Commission rewards journalists committed to Human Rights, Democracy and Development.

Initially set for the written and online press, the Lorenzo Natali Prize opens up this year to journalists from radio and TV. The prize applies to journalists working for local media in one of the five following regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Arab World and the Middle East.

We invite you to apply for the 2008 Natali Prize. The deadline for the reception of the journalistic work is June 30th 2008.

The 15 winners of the Lorenzo Natali Prize will be guests of honour of the European Union in November of 2008. On the occasion of a special evening which will take place during the 2008 European development days, Louis Michel will hand out the trophies and awards to the winners.

Overall 50,000 euros of prize money will awarded to the best pieces of work.

Best regards,

John Wallford, Prize Coordinator


I’m thrilled to be nominated for a prize in journalism. In truth, I’ve tried to model quite a few of my blog entries on the journalistic writings of Mario Vargas Llosa, one of my literary heroes. To learn more about the Lorenzo Natali Prize, click here.

The nominated article forms part of a thread that began with the piece “A Time to Step Aside.” I invite everyone to read, or reread, “Me, the Right Winger” as it appeared in The Panama News.

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old VI

A Revision Update:

Thirty-three chapters (out of fifty) of The Saint of Santa Fe are now ready. Rewriting Chapter 34, I was forced to delete a scene that just wasn’t working—even though it was based on a supposedly true story. While researching the life of Father Héctor Gallego, I learned that in one of his voyages through the jungles of Veraguas, between the villages of Río Luis and Calovébora, he successfully performed an exorcism on a dying man possessed by an evil spirit. Although the man passed away soon afterward, the family was grateful that the priest had been able to eradicate whatever had taken hold of him. Upon rereading the episode, although my informants had assured me that the incident had indeed taken place, the truth read like a poorly conceived scene from a bad movie. I deemed those pages impossible to save, and I did not waste time deleting them. Sometimes, the truth can read like feebly written fiction, and in those cases, an author has no choice but to let go and hit the erase button.

An Invitation to Revisit a Posting:

I have a special relationship with Miguel de Cervantes and his novel Don Quijote de la Mancha. In fact, I am rereading the book these days; it’s like revisiting a dear friend of old.

The year 2005 marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first part of Don Quijote. The surge of interest in Cervantes’s work throughout the Spanish-speaking world was truly remarkable. Yet, from my observation deck, the tributes seemed slightly askew, and I suspect the experience I chose to write about repeated itself elsewhere, not only in Panama.

I invite you to read, or reread, my thoughts regarding these occurrences in "Don Quijote de la Mancha: Four Hundred Years Later."

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old V

A Revision Update:

Chapter 30 of The Saint of Santa Fe is ready. Chapter 31 contains many historical details. The challenge, then, has been to remove the “hiss” of history and make the narrative read as “story.” This is a time-consuming task, but I find it fun. The good thing, though, is that Chapters 32 & 33 are just about set. And from that point there will be “only” 17 chapters to go.

An Invitation to Revisit a Posting:

A few years ago, before I started working at Vasco Núñez de Balboa Academy, I was invited to speak before students about the writing process. After my talk, I discovered that I had neglected, unintentionally, what I would've considered the most important question of the day.

As a late response, the following day I sat down to write a piece that turned out to be my advice for young people who wish to become writers.

I invite you to read, or reread, “A Question Left Unanswered.”

A Revision Update, and Revisiting Obsessions of Old IV

A Revision Update:

My teaching responsibilities required all of my energy and attention this week. Nevertheless, I am not complaining as the work I perform in the classroom is my small grain of sand in helping to shape the future. In any event, the summer vacation is just around the corner and I intend to make up a lot of ground in rewriting The Saint of Santa Fe then. Still, I was able to move forward one chapter and I’m now working on Chapters 30-32.

An Invitation to Revisit a Posting:

There are moments in our lives that help define who we become. I’ve been blessed with several such markers. With regard to my desire to write—and be read—I’m able to trace this back to the day I was introduced to the poetry of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.

You can read about this luminous event in my existence in “Origins of a Dream.”