The Cervantes Institute, the publishing house La Cama Sol and the family of the renowned poet Joan Margarit have sealed this morning the agreement for the creation of the Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize, at the headquarters of the institution.

Madrid, Tuesday, March 7, 2023.– Today it was announced the creation of the Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize, promoted to raise international awareness of the work of the poet Joan Margarit, winner of the Cervantes Prize and Queen Sofia Prize for Poetry, and author of La Cama Sol. The award will be given annually and will reward the work of foreign poets with a consolidated and internationally recognized career, responding to the interest that Joan Margarit always had in making known in his two languages, Catalan and Spanish, his favorite poets from other languages and countries (he translated Thomas Hardy, Rainer Maria RIlke or Elizabeth Bishop, among others).

The jury of this first edition will be formed by Javier Santiso (founder of La Cama Sol), Luis García Montero (director of the Cervantes Institute), Mònica Margarit (daughter of the poet), Nuccio Ordine (professor at the University of Calabria) and Ana Santos (director of the National Library). In the following editions the jury will be enlarged, especially with the poets who are awarded prizes.

Montero commented after the announcement that “Few poets were at once so knowledgeable about their own tradition (in his case, his own traditions) and so curious about the traditions of other languages. Margarit was a fine translator, an astute reader, a poet who brought together in his unique voice diverse streams always well harmonized. That he now gives his name to a prize like this one is an act of justice, literally, poetic”.

The first edition will take place this year 2023 and will include an annual award ceremony at the headquarters of the Cervantes Institute. Spanish embassies abroad, embassies in Spain of any country in the world and the directors of Cervantes institutes around the world may submit nominations.

La Cama Sol publishing house will publish the award speech and promote it both in Spain and abroad, with translations into Spanish, English and French. It will be a limited edition, which will combine poems with works of art, and will be given as a gift to those involved in the celebration of the award. The initial endowment of the Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize will be 7.000€.