In the context of the 34th edition of the Book Fair in Ciego de Ávila, the III International Haiku and Japanese Poetry Contest «At the Well’s Edge» was awarded today, with Avilanian author Roberto Delgado Mejías being the winner, while his compatriot Víctor Manuel Ramos Fernández was among the finalists.

This literary competition saw the participation of authors from 15 countries, with a total of 20 works submitted, of which Spain obtained the majority of mentions and prizes.

The jury unanimously decided to award the sole prize to the haibun (a Japanese literary form combining prose and poetry) «In the Storm,» by Delgado Mejías.

In the minutes, the jury highlighted that the winning work is «a seamless, well-written text, where the movement of the rain and the dog is perceived, alongside the static, yet simultaneously alive (…) the haijin’s vital experience laid bare before the push of nature, and as a culmination, three magnificent haikus, especially the one that closes the text.»

The jury on this occasion was composed of Rafael Castillo Morales, as president from Albacete, Spain; Samuel Cruz Guedes, from Pinar del Río, Cuba; and Lázaro Alfonso Díaz Cala, from Havana, Cuba.

Delgado Mejías, in statements to the Cuban News Agency, noted that he always observes nature to find inspiration to compose a haiku.

He commented that his passion for Japanese poetry originated in 2023 after participating in a haiku workshop taught by Lázaro Alfonso Díaz Cala during the Book Fair in Ciego de Ávila, where he was the most outstanding in that final test.

From that moment, three years ago, Delgado Mejías continued cultivating this poetic form, achieving first place in the I International Haiku Contest «At the Well’s Edge,» of a national character, in 2024, and serving as a juror in 2025 during the second edition, when the contest was already open to foreign participants.

«At the Well’s Edge» is a contest sponsored by the Embassy of Japan in Havana and the Provincial Centre for Books and Literature in Ciego de Ávila, as well as coordinated with the Avilanian literary workshop El Rincón de los Cronopios and the haiku project La Luz del faro, based in the Cuban capital.