Overview

• A three-member jury—Cessia Esther Chuc Uc, Rosario Patricia Martínez and Estercilia Simanca—reached a unanimous decision after reviewing 18 proposals from Mexico, Peru and Ecuador across about 10 indigenous languages.
• The six-story collection focuses on death and depicts poverty, faith, medicine and the pull between tradition and modernity, with women as central characters and influences cited from Kafka and Camus.
• The prize package includes publication at FIL Guadalajara, a commemorative statuette and official recognition in addition to the cash award.
• Díaz, a tzotzil speaker from San Cristóbal de las Casas born in 1995, holds a degree in Language and Culture from UNICH and teaches at an indigenous primary school.
• She noted pride in being the second tzotzil PLIA laureate after last year’s winner Ruperta Bautista Vázquez, as organizers emphasized the award’s mission to elevate literature in indigenous languages.