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The Nicaraguan Gioconda Belli has won the XXXII Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry, according to the jury's decision made public on Monday, which has highlighted her creative expressiveness, her freedom and her poetic courage.

Patrimonio Nacional de España and the University of Salamanca annually award this prize, the most important for poetry in Spanish and Portuguese and endowed with 42,100 euros, to recognize the whole of the work of a living author who, due to its literary value, constitutes a relevant contribution to the common cultural heritage of Ibero-America and Spain.

The president of National Heritage, Ana de la Cueva, and the rector of the University of Salamanca, Ricardo Rivero, have announced the prize awarded to Belli, (Managua, 1948), who is exiled in Spain after the Government of Daniel Ortega withdrew her nationality, as happened with the Cervantes Prize Sergio Ramírez.

The jury, which has awarded the prize unanimously, has also highlighted its significance in the contemporary culture of Nicaragua, reinforcing the prestige of one of the great countries of Latin American lyric.

"It has not been an easy decision," said the president of National Heritage, who explained that they have recognized Belli among the 49 candidates who "reflect the variety of our letters and the prestige of the award."

The rector of the University of Salamanca stressed that the Nicaraguan writer joins a cast of "wonderful poets" who claim the values defended by institutions and universities, and fight against tyranny.

The jury of the XXII Reina Sofía Award is formed by the president of National Heritage, the rector of the University of Salamanca; the director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado; the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero.

Also by Olvido García Valdés, awarded in the previous edition; Mexican writer Jorge Luis Volpi; the poet Raquel Lanseros; the director of the National Library, Ana Santos Aramburo; the representatives of the Department of Spanish and Ibero-American Literature of the University of Salamanca, M. Isabel Toro Pascua and Francisco Bautista; the professor of the Autonomous University of Madrid Selena Millares and the director of the Ángel González Chair of the University of Oviedo, Araceli Iravedra.

Gioconda Belli will receive the award from Queen Sofia next autumn.

  • literature
  • poetry

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