After several hours of deliberation, with 42 candidates in the running, the jury for the XXXI Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry organized by National Heritage and the University of Salamanca has unanimously decided to reward the metaphysical and healing verses of the Asturian Olvido García Valdés (Santianes de Pravia, 1950), author of collections of poems such as And we were all alive, Lo solo del animal or, the last one, Trust grace, all published by Tusquets. The prize has an endowment of 42,100 euros, in addition to the edition of an anthological collection of poems of the winner and some academic conferences on her poetry.
A poem, that of García Valdés, who has already won the National Poetry Prize and the Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Prize, awarded by the Chilean government, and which he is seeking, the president of National Heritage stated in the ruling announcement, Ana de la Cueva, "dispossession, essentialism, is the poet of essence, joy, emotions, nature, intimate reflection, author of a very extensive work, profoundly knowledgeable of the work of Saint Teresa and translator of Pasolini"
The rector of the University of Salamanca, Ricardo Rivero, has underlined, with the collection of poems I trust in grace in hand, that at this time "we need poetry, grace, utopia, piety and empathy, it is time to avoid any speech of disregard, of hate, of not appreciating people, and that is what poetry brings us, and the poetry of Olvido García Valdés".
For Manuel Ambrosio Sánchez, director of the Department of Spanish and Hispanic American Literature at the University of Salamanca, García Valdés's verses "go beyond emotions, feeling, searching for being, ontology, we can speak of metaphysical poetry". "Whoever approaches Olvido for the first time will find concentric circles, different levels of reading that go in increasing depth. And he always has elements for calm, his poetry is a soothing, a vital help in these convulsive and difficult times", has added.
Olvido García Valdés (Santianes de Pravia, Asturias, 1950) has a degree in Romance Philology and Philosophy. She has been a professor of Spanish Language and Literature, director of the Cervantes Institute in Toulouse and general director of Books and the Promotion of Reading. In 2007, she won the National Poetry Award for Y todos somos vivo. That moth that flutters in front of me. Reunited Poetry (1982-2008) (Galaxia Gutenberg) collects her poetic work between those dates. It has been translated into French, English, Italian, Polish and Swedish. She is the author of a Teresa de Jesús biographical essay, of texts for plastic arts catalogs (on Zush, Kiefer, Vicente Rojo, Tàpies, Juan Soriano) and numerous literary reflection essays.
