Yves Bonnefoy has been awarded the 2013 Guadalajara International Book Fair Prize in Romance Languages for a work dedicated to “the great pillars of poetic modernity,” including Baudelaire, Celan, and Rimbaud.
The jury awarded the prize unanimously noting the writer’s “sophistication of his poetry, in contrast to the simplicity of his language.”
The French novelist, essayist, critic and, translator of English will receive the prize, including US$150,000, in November at the inauguration of the 27th Guadalajara International Book Fair, probably the most important such event in the Spanish-speaking world.
Bonnefoy, who has never attended the fair, said it was “a privilege to receive a prize in Mexico,” that it meant a lot to him and that he considered it “a sign of friendship and unity.”
Gutierrez Vega said the jury’s plan was to “expand the scope of the award,” adding a Frenchman to previous winners in Spanish and Portuguese.
Thirty-six candidates were entered for the prize, of whom 12 were writers in Spanish, another 12 in Portuguese, six in French, five in Italian, and one in Romanian.
Recent winners include Chilean Nicanor Parra (1991), Cuban Eliseo Diego (1993), Guatemalan Augusto Monterroso (1996), Brazilians Nélida Piñón (1995) y Rubem Fonseca (2003), and Spaniards Juan Marsé (1997) y Juan Goytisolo (2004).
