Peruvian writer David Silva Rojas won the inaugural edition of the Premio Internacional de Novela Breve Almadía Ventosa-Arrufat on Wednesday, July 29, announced in Mexico City, with his work *Donde el agua trabaja*, selected from 2,204 manuscripts submitted from 22 countries across four continents.
The winning novel addresses labor exploitation on wine estates in Ica, Peru, and was chosen by a jury led by Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza, 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner, alongside Argentine author Selva Almada and Ecuadorian author Mónica Ojeda. The prize is organized by Almadía, the independent publishing house founded in Oaxaca in 2005 with a catalogue now exceeding 500 titles, in partnership with the Fundación Ventosa Arrufat. For Mexico, the significance is twofold: a homegrown independent publisher consolidates itself as a continental platform for literary discovery, having drawn submissions from four continents in its very first year. For the Latin American literary community in North America, the prize opens a channel to emerging voices with guaranteed distribution across five countries from day one.
The prize includes 20,000 euros (approximately 22,900 dollars) and publication of the work in Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Peru, and Colombia, along with a co-edition in Bolivia with Editorial Nuevo Milenio and an audiobook backed by Zebralution. The open call launched in Madrid in November 2025 and closed in May 2026. The four finalists announced on July 20 were Argentine author Félix Bruzzone with *El cazador de caracoles*, Bolivian author Camila de Urioste with *Fiebre*, and fellow Argentine Ivo Marinich with *El sulky*. Silva Rojas, a 45-year-old lawyer and researcher born in Ica, lived in Japan and in 2026 received an honorable mention at the XXIX Concurso de Novela Corta Julio Ramón Ribeyro with *La limpieza*.
Publication of *Donde el agua trabaja* is scheduled for September 2026 with distribution throughout Latin America. The author will participate in the Fiesta del Libro y la Cultura de Medellín from September 16 to 19 and will present the work in Bogotá on September 22.
This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.