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Venezuelan poet Rafael Cadenas was awarded this Thursday with the Cervantes Prize 2022, the highest award in Spanish literature. As part of the award, he will receive 125,000 euros (144,800 dollars).
At a press conference, the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, informed of the jury’s decision. The Cervantes Prize recognizes Rafael Cadenas as a writer whose work has contributed to enriching the Hispanic literary legacy.
The Spanish newspaper El País reported that this year’s jury was made up of Peri Rossi, as well as Aurora Egido, representing the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE); Albino Chacón, for the Costa Rican Academy of Language; Esther Borrego, for the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities; Mónica Lavín, on behalf of the Union of Latin American Universities; Raquel Caleya, representing the Cervantes Institute; the editor of Páginas de Espuma, Juan Casamayor, at the proposal of the General Directorate of Books; Francisco Galán, for the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain; Doraliza Jiménez, for the Latin American Federation of Journalists; and Lucas Torres for the International Association of Hispanists.
Rafael Cadenas was born in Barquisimeto in 1930. At 92 years of age, his work is a fundamental part of Latin American lyric poetry in recent years. Thanks to his extensive career, the essayist and university professor was recognized with the FIL Prize for Literature in Romance Languages awarded by the Guadalajara Book Fair (Mexico). He also received the García Lorca Prize awarded in Granada and the Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry.
Among his works are Cantos iniciales (1946), Una isla (1958), Los cuadernos del destierro (1960) and Falsas maniobras (1966). Other titles by him include Anotaciones (1973), Intemperie (1977), Memorial (1977), Amante (1983), Dichos (1992), Gestiones (1992) and El taller de al lado (2005).
Several anthologies of his work have been published and the Fondo de Cultura Económica published his Obra entera. In 2007 Editorial Pre-Textos published Obra entera. Poesía y prosa.
His essays are a reference to contemporary thought. His books En torno al lenguaje and Apuntes sobre San Juan de la Cruz y la mística are being studied and researched.
With information from EFE
