Gonzalo Celorio, born in Mexico City in 1948, is recognized by the prize jury for an “exceptional body of work” with a “literary voice of remarkable elegance and reflective depth” established over five decades.
The jury’s decision was announced today in Madrid by Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, who highlighted the Mexican writer’s “profound and sustainable” contributions to the enrichment of the Spanish language.
Gonzalo Celorio’s work combines “critical lucidity with a narrative sensitivity that explores the nuances of identity, sentimental education, and loss,” added Ernest Urtasun.
In Portugal, his books ‘E que ribombe nos seus centros a terra’, translated by Jorge Fallorca (Teorema, 2002), and ‘Três lindas cubanas’, translated by Margarida Amado Acosta and revised by Carlos Pinheiro (Quetzal, 2009), have been published, according to the catalogs of the National Library of Portugal.
Celorio was a guest at Portuguese literary festivals such as Correntes d’Escritas in Póvoa de Varzim and LeV – Literatura em Viagem in Matosinhos, coinciding with the release of ‘Três lindas cubanas’.
The Cervantes Prize, valued at 125,000 euros, is awarded annually on April 23, Spain’s book day and the anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes’ death.
