This Saturday, 297 Latinos will be awarded the International Latino Book Prize (ILBA), one of the most prestigious annual awards in the United States, which has recognized the best Latino writing in the American territory of the last two decades in the Spanish, English and Portuguese languages.
The ceremony, which already goes for its 22nd  edition, can be viewed online at 4:30 p.m. in Nebraska (2:30 p.m. PDT) without registration, either through www.LatinoBookAwards.org,  Facebook, Youtube or Instragram.
On this occasion, the works of 3,194 authors and publishers were recognized, but of them only 297 from 18 countries that were awarded within the 96 categories were selected.
These categories are grouped under the names of these awards:  Children Book, Youth Book, Young Adult Book, Non-Fiction, Fiction, eBooks & Audio, Portuguese, Desing, Translation, The Mariposa, Themed, Poetry and Marketing.
It is estimated that given the high demand for purchases of books by Latino authors this year, $750 million worth of book purchases in English and Spanish will be calculated.
“The size of the awards is proof that books by, about and for Latinos are in high demand,” says Kirk Whisler, ILBA’s press release award organizer.

For this edition, the organizing committee included five awards that bear the name of authors who have opened the doors to the world about the Latino community:  Rudolfo Anaya Award for Best Latin-focused Fiction Book,  in honor of the Mexican-American writer; Isabel Allende Award for best fictional inspiration, in honor of the Latino author with the highest sales in the world; Alma Flor Award for Best Illustrated Book for Children Focused on Latinos for being considered a luminaire of children’s literature; Juan Felipe Herrera Award for Best Book of Poetry for being the first Latino in the US named Poet Laureate; and Victor Villaseñor Award for Best Non-Fiction Book Focuses on Latinos..
“In order to handle the large number of books received, this year the awards had 214 judges,” Whisler says in his article.
“40% of the winning books are from the United States and from international publishers, 25% are from medium-sized publishers, and 35% are from small publishers or self-publishing,” Whisler said.
He adds that according to the jury, “this year has been the best and it was very difficult to pick the winners because of the number of books published,” he added.
The awards are organized by Empowering Latino Futures, formerly called Latino Literacy Now, a non-profit organization co-founded in 1997 by Edward James and Whisler.
El Perico is one of the media associated with the event, which is why we reiterate the invitation to see the magnificent event.

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