The Nicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli (Managua, 1948) is the winner of the XXXII Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American poetry, as announced on Monday by the president of National Heritage, Ana de la Cueva, and the rector of the University of Salamanca, Ricardo Rivero –the two institutions that grant the award–.
The jury, which unanimously awarded the prize, highlighted its "creative expressiveness, its freedom and poetic courage, and its significance in contemporary Nicaraguan culture, reinforcing the prestige of one of the great countries of Latin American poetry."
"It has not been an easy decision," said the president of Patrimonio Nacional, 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 has highlighted that the Nicaraguan writer joins a cast of "marvelous poets" who vindicate the values defended by institutions and universities and fight against tyranny.
Precisely this fight against tyranny has even led to the Nicaraguan authorities withdrawing his nationality last February, along with 317 other opponents, for "treason against the homeland." She has been denouncing for some time that "Nicaragua is experiencing a dictatorship the likes of which has not been seen in Latin America in decades," and she knows what she is talking about because she herself fought alongside the current Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, and was even in the government, but in the In the eighties he left official politics to dedicate himself to writing.
Next autumn, Belli will receive the prize, endowed with 42,100 euros, from the hands of Queen Sofía, the most important for poetry in Spanish and Portuguese and which recognizes the whole of the work of a living author who, due to its literary value, constitutes a significant contribution to the common cultural heritage of Latin America and Spain. The award also includes the publication of an anthological collection of poems and the holding of academic conferences.
The jury of the edition of the XXXII Reina Sofía award is formed by the president of Patrimonio Nacional, the rector of the University of Salamanca; the director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado; the director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero; 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 chair director Ángel González of the University of Oviedo, Araceli Iravedra.
