Awards and Recognitions

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Literary Prize

© Iván Giménez

2018

Clara Usón

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Spain, 1961

Clara Usón (Barcelona, 1961) was selected as the winner of the 2018 Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize for her novel El asesino tímido. The jury— composed of Ana García Bergua (Mexico), Claudia Piñeiro (Argentina), and Daniel Centeno Maldonado (Venezuela)— chose her work from among 69 submissions.

“It records part of Spain’s transition in its proposal, balancing erudition and accessibility, pushing the limits of the conventional novel and daring to go further,” the jury stated in its official ruling.
Her first novel, Las noches de San Juan, won the Premio Femenino Lumen in 1998. In 2012 she published La hija del Este, which received the Critics’ Prize, the Ciutat de Barcelona Prize, and the Mediterranean Culture Prize.