NEW YORK, NY: This year's winner of Europe's most important award in Filipino-Hispanic literature has joined Centiramo Publishing's roster of award-winning authors with the release in New York of her Spanish poetry collection, Momentos e instantes, under the Centiramo imprint.
Daisy López, a professor who taught at the University of the Philippines' Department of European Languages, was awarded the VIII Premio José Rizal de las Letras Filipinas by the Instituto Juan Andrés de Comparatística Globalización in Madrid for her most recent work in Spanish, Momentos e instantes. She is the first woman to win the Prize.
The book was released in New York on New Year's eve (December 31, 2022), a day after the 126th death anniversary of José Rizal, after whom the Prize was named, and a week after the award was announced in Madrid. Among the previous winners are Virgilio Almario, National Artist of the Philippines for Literature, author Guillermo Gómez Rivera, Augustinian poet Gilbert Luis R. Centina III, Spanish singer-songwriter and filmmaker Luis Eduardo Aute, and Edwin Agustin Lozada president of the Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA).
Daisy "offers a testimony that invites readers to dream," according to the award-giving body. In addition, "she explores the depths of the human spirit, the perception of being as regards the passing of time, from an unusual optimism."
In discussing the book, Daisy says the poems in the collection "do not reside in more or less rhythmic verses, but in the inspired ideas that spring up at every moment and instant and are transformed into language. It is the experience of finding—if possible—the words to express an emotion, a feeling, a fear, a concern, a joy, a thought."
Momentos e instantes includes various "screenshots" of unique experiences, which Daisy's pen, like a camera, made sure to capture over time. Thus, reminiscences are preserved, and memory is immortalized. Because each moment is unique, and each instant is unrepeatable.
Daisy is a teacher, essayist, translator, and full member of the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language. In Spanish, she has published En la línea del horizonte. She is also the author of the bilingual collection of poems in chabacano and Spanish, Hermoso palabra, for which she was awarded the 2022 Premio Abad. Her poetic work appears in several international anthologies.
Momento e instantes is available from Amazon and other online booksellers.