Hortensia Winning poetry collection of the Arturo Agüero Chaves Literary Contest, 2025

Abstract

Hortensia, by Natali García Trejos, winner of the Arturo Agüero Chaves Literary Contest 2025 in the poetry category, brings together poems about migration, roots, and rural memory. The lyrical voice narrates displacement, nostalgia for the homeland, labor precariousness, and the cultural clash with the city; it evokes domestic and family images (father, mother, grandmother) and denounces the loss of childhood and exploitation. Between colonization and resistance, the poems assert belonging and the defense of identity, blending tenderness and anger. The collection weaves together oral tradition and embodied language to affirm popular dignity in the face of inequality and celebrates the authentic peasant voice.