The poet Francisco Brines, at his home in La Oliva (Valencia), in 2006.Jesús Císcar / EL PAÍS
The Spanish poet Francisco Brines, 88 years old (Oliva, Valencia), has won the 46th Miguel de Cervantes Prize, as announced Monday by the Minister of Culture and Sports, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes.
It is the most prestigious award for Castilian letters, and is endowed with 125,000 euros.
Brines is considered one of the greatest creators of Spanish literature of the second half of the 20th century, as well as the last representative of the generation of the 50s. The author of
Autumn of the Roses,
also a member of the RAE,
He already won the National Prize for Literature in 1986.
The last coast
(Tusquets)
, Las brasas,
Yo rest en la luz
(Visor),
To burn the night
(University of Salamanca),
Cloudy garden
(Pre-Texts) or
Entre dos nadas
(Renaissance) are other of his most outstanding works.
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"The important thing is poetry, whatever it may be," Brines said at a ceremony in Valencia on December 19.
His main references include Luis Cernuda and Juan Ramón Jiménez.
At the same meeting, the Valencian author defined poetry as a “wonderful gift” and assured that he currently sees “good, very good, current poetry and also interesting poetry”, but considers that “the need for write poetry, excellent or mediocre ”to transform life into words.
"Loving and being loved is the most we can wish for and, if you have lived it, thank God that you may not have lived it", the winner also stated on that occasion.
The Cervantes represents "the highest recognition of the creative work of Spanish and Latin American writers whose work has contributed to significantly enrich the literary heritage in the Spanish language", as stated on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
It is delivered in an act, chaired by the Kings of Spain, in the Auditorium of the University of Alcalá de Henares, every April 23, World Book and Copyright Day, and also the date on which the death of Miguel de Cervantes.
Last year the award went to the poet Joan Margarit, the first author to receive recognition with a fully bilingual work in Catalan and Spanish, and also the first to see how the award ceremony was postponed due to the pandemic.
In 2018, the Uruguayan writer Ida Vitale took over Cervantes.
The award has been granted since 1976, when Jorge Guillén, one of the greatest figures of the Generation of 27, was the first author to receive it.
In 1979,
the Spanish Gerardo Diego and the Argentine Jorge Luis Borges
won
ex aequo
: to date it is the only occasion in which there have been two winners, hence today Monday is the 45th edition but it assigns the 46th award.
The award ceremony this year to Brines breaks the traditional balance between both sides of the ocean: there are now 24 Spanish winners and 22 from Latin America.
“Any writer whose literary work is written, totally or in its essential part, in this language can be proposed.
The Academies of the Spanish Language can present candidates;
the authors awarded in previous calls;
the institutions that, due to their nature, purposes or contents, are linked to literature in the Spanish language, and the members of the jury ”, clarifies the Culture website.