Spain’s Culture Minister, Ernest Urtasun, is scheduled to announce the 2026 winner of the Cervantes Prize at 7 p.m. at the Ministry of Culture in Madrid. Established in 1975, the award recognizes an author’s body of work and its contribution to Hispanic literature. It is worth €125,000 and has been awarded every year since its creation.
The prize has gone to writers including Jorge Luis Borges, Octavio Paz, Mario Vargas Llosa and Eduardo Mendoza. Jorge Guillén was its first recipient. Seven women have won during the award’s history; the most recent was poet Cristina Peri Rossi in 2021.
Mexican writer Gonzalo Celorio received the 2025 award, following Spanish winners Luis Mateo Díez in 2023 and Álvaro Pombo in 2024. Colombian poet Piedad Bonnett, Argentine poet María Negroni and Nicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli have been mentioned among possible contenders this year, alongside César Aira, Raúl Zurita and Antonio Muñoz Molina.
The 2026 jury includes the two most recent laureates, Pombo and Celorio, as well as representatives of literary, academic, journalism and cultural organizations in Spain and Latin America. The award ceremony is held each year on April 23 in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid.
Sources: El País Cultura.