Javier Velaza from Tudela has won the XXXVII Loewe International Poetry Prize for his work “Les Ignorances.” The Loewe Foundation announced this during a press conference on Tuesday. The Young Creation Prize went to Peruvian poet Omar Castro Villalobos for his collection “Individual Room.”
Velaza will receive €30,000 for his win, while Castro Villalobos will be awarded €12,000. Both poets were selected from a pool of 35 finalists, chosen from a total of 2,260 manuscripts submitted from 39 countries. More than a quarter of the submissions came from participants under the age of 33.
The jury, chaired by Víctor García de la Concha and including members such as Gioconda Belli, Carme Riera, Luis Antonio de Villena, and Diego Roel, praised Velaza’s work as “classic but modern.” They noted its “absolute mastery of rhythm and versification,” highlighting its strong moral content and solid structure.
Javier Velaza is a professor of Latin Philology and the Dean of the Faculty of Philology and Communication at the University of Barcelona. He has authored seven poetry collections, including “Mar de amores y latines.”
Omar Castro Villalobos’s “Individual Room” was described by the jury as a book of its time, combining free and rigorous language. María Negroni, a jury member, praised Castro Villalobos for including a unique political and social critique in his depiction of Lima, where issues of gender, poverty, and generational concerns intersect.
The awards ceremony, along with the presentation of the winning works, will take place in March 2025. Notably, 55% of the participants in this edition were from Latin America, particularly Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. In Spain, the provinces with the highest number of submissions included Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Alicante.
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