Monsignor Freddy Bretón was awarded the 2023 National Prize for Literature from the Dominican Republic. The Metropolitan Archbishop of Santiago de los Caballeros is a prominent writer, possessing a solid work that consecrates him among the best Dominican authors. The Prize is awarded every year jointly by the Corripio Foundation and the Ministry of Culture.
The award was given for being a worthy author of historical, spiritual, and social themes, with a singular contribution to the art of verbal creation, in the genres of poetry, novel, biography and essay, in the light of an exemplary use of the word.
His work as a writer began with poetry, then moving on to narrative, essay, as well as autobiography and historical research. Bretón Martínez is currently chancellor of the Pontifical Catholic University Mother and Teacher and president of the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate.
The rector of UNPHU, Architect Miguel Fiallo Calderón, was present at the presentation, participating as part of the jury in the election of the writer in this distinction. The event was chaired by Mr. Corripio Estrada, and the Minister of Culture, Milagros Germán, and José Alcántara Almánzar and Jorge Tena Reyes, members of the Foundation.
About Freddy Bretón
He is currently the president of the Conference of the Dominican Episcopate, and in 2020 he received the Eduardo León Jiménez National Book Fair Award for his work “Los entresijos del vino” (The Insides of the Wind), an intentionally wind-blown novel.
Some of his published works are “Book of Traces”, “On the March”, “Flag of a Wind”, “Voices of the Dust”, “Suggestions for the encounter with God”, “The Mask of Time”, “The Breton surname in the Dominican Republic”, “Between the voice and the fire”, “Vital Passion” and “The green alligator siesta”, among others.
