Latin authors Gabino Iglesias and Cynthia Pelayo made history at the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 17.
Iglesias won Superior Achievement in a Novel for his book The Devil Takes You Home and became the first Latino to win the award. Iglesias is a Puerto Rican native who lives in Austin, Texas.
Pelayo won Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection for Crime Scene and became the first Puerto Rican-born author to win a Stoker Award and the first Latina to win the Poetry category.
“I am super stoked that I won … and I am super stoked that I am not the first Puerto Rican to get a Stoker,” Iglesias said during his acceptance speech while pointing to Pelayo who’d won earlier in the night. “Stand up.”
After thanking his supporters, Iglesias held up the Stoker Awards program and noted the diversity of this year’s nominees.
“There’s a whole bunch of women of color in here,” he said. “There’s a bunch of queer writers in here. There’s a bunch of black and brown and Asian and nonbinary folks on this list, and that makes a lot of people angry. And that makes a lot of racists uncomfortable. But they’re also people. Racists also have feelings. So, to them I want to say, ‘This is the future. Stay salty, motherf***ers.’”
Pelayo’s speech began emotionally with tears flowing the moment that she heard her name announced as the Poetry winner. She opened her speech by saying, “I just want to call my dad,” and thanked the Horror Writers Association and her supporters, including fellow Stoker Award winners Hailey Piper, Sara Tantlinger, Brian Keene, and Iglesias. Pelayo credited another Stoker Award-winning poet for her ultimate success.
“Thank you Stephanie Wytovich,” she said. “You read my poetry in 2010, 2011. And nobody believed in me but you. And I’m here because of you, and you believed in me. And I’m so lucky that I’ve worked with you on several projects. And I’m in awe of you. And you’re brilliant, and I’m also glad to call you my friend.”
Pelayo finished her speech with a song.
“I am the first Puerto Rican Bram Stoker Award winner,” she said. “I don’t know if there are many Puerto Ricans in the audience, but I just want to say, ‘Que bonita bandera/Que bonita bandera/Que bonita bandera es la bandera Puertorriqueña.’”
Translation: “What a pretty flag/What a pretty flag/What a pretty flag the Puerto Rican flag.”
Watch the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards ceremony on YouTube by clicking HERE.
The Official Website of Horror and Fantasy Writer Lionel Ray Green 
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