On Thursday, Sept. 23, Uruguayan writer Ida Vitale was presented before a room with reduced capacity, but filled with admiration and applause for her and her poetry. Vitale will be 98 years old on Nov. 2, and just released her latest collection of poems Tiempo sin claves, which is already in Uruguayan bookstores. 

The emblematic writer said with great encouragement, "I hope it will not be the last."

Awarded in 2018 with the Cervantes Prize, she took advantage of the moment and the space to recite some of the 61 poems that are part of her new collection. From the publishing house, Estuario Editora, Tiempo sin claves was launched in July, but the official presentation was delayed until September due to health restrictions that limited cultural events in Uruguay.

The poetry book deals with a variety of topics and references, such as a visit she made to Iceland, her dream of Franz Kafka on a nudist beach, a small and heartfelt tribute to the Bolognese painter Giorgio Morandi, and "Nostalgia to Dodó", a tribute to an extinct bird she remembers seeing in a museum showcase when she was a child.

After the presentation of the book at the National Museum of Visual Arts, she had a short interview with EFE, in which the poet said she was "happy" and in tune with the tranquility she notices in Uruguay. About the publication of the book of poems, Vitale, with her characteristic humorous touch, said she hopes to write something more in prose, as it is a style that she has always "tempted a lot" with, but did not find the time to do it. 

The book includes eight poems dedicated to her second husband, poet and professor Enrique Fierro, whose death prompted her return to Montevideo after living in Austin, Texas since 1989. 

An Uruguayan literature teacher, critic, essayist, translator, and poet, Vitale has dedicated her time and energy to extolling the life and work of others, something that, according to her, drives her to remain active. Although she is interested in traveling to Spain in the near future and has been invited to the country with her daughter, the Uruguayan writer confessed she is not yet certain of the trip.