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Catalan poet Joan Margarit , awarded this Thursday with the Cervantes Prize , has celebrated the award because he believes that "poetry will have more readers". "The prize allows poetry as a comfort tool to reach more people," he said minutes after hearing the news.

"I am not going to return the Spanish to General Franco, who kicked it at me," Margarit pointed out, referring to his dimension as a Spanish and Catalan author , as he himself pointed out on November 4 after depositing a legacy at the Cervantes Institute.

The poet does not have the sensation of having reached any goal because, as he has indicated, "everything is in the way". "You never get anywhere," Margarit stressed, while advising not to reach "any target" because it is a "hoax."

"If a poem cannot comfort a person in a difficult situation, it is worth nothing as a poem," added the poet, who has considered that the prize makes it possible to comfort more people, because the consolation tool reaches more people.

The poet has received the news of the award while eating: "It happens that I am home alone today," added Margarit, who after the conversation has continued to eat before the plate cooled down, he said.

Margarit, who next Wednesday will collect the XXVIII Reina Sofía Award for Ibero-American Poetry, has stressed that this genre is not the poor sister of literature, and has said that poetry is not as easy as prose. "Surely poetry has more to do with music than with literature, " said the poet, who adds that his career ends because he is 81 years old.

On poetry, he has said that it is stupid to think that poets write for themselves: "I am comforted by the poetry of other poets," he added.

Asking about the current political situation and the situation in Catalonia , Margarit has stressed that he is "fed up" with talking about it and, asked about the connection with this prize with the conflict, flees symbols. "Poets have their feet on the ground no matter how famous we are," he said.

The poet of Sant Just Desvern (Barcelona) has been awarded the 2019 Cervantes Prize, recognition granted every year by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports and is endowed with 125,000 euros.

This was announced by the Minister of Culture and Sports, José Guirao, at an event held at the Secretary of State for Culture; the Cervantes,

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Barcelona
  • Catalonia
  • Jose Guirao
  • poetry
  • literature
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