Diego Doncel, winner of the 2020 LOEWE Poetry Prize
Put a gold medal on all of those words that move us when they enter our retinas and reward the beauty of written language it is the raison d'être of the LOEWE Poetry Prize, which already has a winner for this edition: **Diego Doncel; Spanish poet, novelist and critic. **
And the triumph is not trivial, because the poetic excellence emerges from each fragment of The Fragility , the book thanks to which the writer from Cáceres -from the municipality of Malpartida- has added one more award to his list.
Spanish poet, novelist and critic
Diego Doncel has been crowned the winner in a call in which they have presented 1,247 participants from 36 countries -25% from Latin America- , which has meant the highest number of poems presented in the 33 years of history of the contest.
Since 1987, the LOEWE FOUNDATION International Poetry Prize It is convened on an annual basis and its purpose is to promote quality in poetic creation in the Spanish language.** The awards ceremony** and the presentation of the books will take place in March 2021.
“I received very young the Adonai Award. In 2012 the Gijon Coffee Award of novel of journalism, the Mercedes Calles. And throughout my career, the Dialogue of Cultures Award explains Diego Doncel, who From the age of 10, he had a clear vocation for him:
“I have focused my whole life on it. Being a writer is a way of life , not a way to carry out your professional work. It's something deeper, more true,” he notes.
The ceremony of XXXIII LOEWE FOUNDATION International Poetry Prize was chaired by Victor Garcia de la Concha and it had a jury made up of Gioconda Belli, Antonio Colinas, Aurora Egido, Margo Glantz, Juan Antonio González Iglesias, Carme Riera, Jaime Siles, Luis Antonio de Villena and Aurora Luque, winner of the previous call.
After deliberation, the jury stated the indisputable reasons for its consensus: "Fragility is a very solid and very compact book, both in substance and in form." Sentence that James Siles wanted to confirm:
When he was only ten years old, he was clear that his great passion was writing.
“There is no missing or surplus poem. **It is an absolute, total collection of poems, of an admirable vital and expressive maturity”. **
“He confers a deep voice with a singular and personal worldview of his own that exposes a theory of life and that humanizes his diction by showing us the spectacle that the current civilization shuns and does not want to see, pain and death , and does so from an open position to the solidarity of hope”, he stated.
On the other hand, the Loewe Foundation also grants a Young Creation Award to an author up to 33 years old, which this year has been awarded to Mario Obrero, a 17-year-old from Madrid , author of Peachtree City . Both works will be published within the Poetry Viewer Collection.
**SENTIMENTAL GEOGRAPHY **
Diego Doncel can not only boast of having received the LOEWE FOUNDATION International Poetry Prize, but as he comments “It is the most important prize for poetry, the most prestigious in the world Spanish speaker" , but there have been several awards received throughout his career.
For example, in 1990 he took over the Adonai Award thanks to your book the only threshold (Madrid, Adonais, 1991). the one they followed a passing shadow (Tusquets, 1996), in no paradise (Viewer, 2005) and porn fiction (DVD Editions, 2011), books that meet in Territories under surveillance (Viewer, 2015).
Estuário do Sado, one of its great travel addictions
Later he also published The end of the world on television (Viewer, 2015, Tiflos Award from the ONCE Foundation).
On the other hand, as a novelist, he has published three works: The female secrets angle (Mondadori, 2003), Women waving goodbye (DVD Editions, 2010) and Lovers in the time of infamy (Coffee Gijón Award 2012, Siruela, 2013).
In the journalistic field, he has collaborated as a critic in literary supplements, his work in this field being recognized with the ** International Prize for Journalism "Mercedes Calles-Carlos Ballesteros". **
The realization of scripts for television and radio , cultural management in institutions such as Circle of Fine Arts or Circle of Readers or the creation and direction of the Spanish-Portuguese magazine Espacio/Espaço written , have been other of his most significant professional experiences.
But if there is something that Diego Doncel dominates perfectly, it is the art of verses: his poetry has been translated into English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese. And this year, he has returned to occupy that place that he so deserves thanks to the Loewe Foundation.
“It has given me peace of mind. a kind of calm and a lot of joy . Above all because of the things that the jury has said about the book”, the poet commented to Traveler.es after receiving the award.
“Frailty is about the death of my father and it is a tribute to him. It has taken me many years to find the voice that could speak of that experience. My question was: How to write the love I still have for him? he explains to us.
Serra da Arrabida, Portugal
Your favorite poem in the book? towards happiness , which ends with these lines: Between you and me there may be night but never death, / there may be distance but never absence.
Although it is currently based in Madrid , the poet from Cáceres considers himself a great globetrotter and has found inspiration on your journeys On numerous occasions.
“This book is full of sentimental geographies. I like places that become part of me, of my intimacy”, he comments. We wonder what his favorite destination is, and the answer does not surprise us:
“I have an ancient passion for Portugal . Precisely since my father discovered it for me. I have been addicted for decades to the Sado Estuary and the Sierra de Arrábida”, he confesses. And so, traveling through his memory, we have also come across a funny travel anecdote that lived in Marrakech.
"An afternoon, in the square of Jemaa el Fna, someone took by mistake an unpublished book by Goytisolo” . He could well have been the protagonist of said expertise, because this lover of letters is very clear what three things cannot be missing in his luggage: "One book, two books, three books."
Montevideo, Uruguay
even though he loves return to the destinations that he loves , What the Montánchez mountain range (Cáceres) or the Galapinhos beach (Setúbal) -his favorite corners of it to disconnect-, if he had to get lost in an unknown land, it would be Montevideo.
Regarding where he would spend a stay, the poet has some doubts. “I don't know, surely the hotels where I was happy. For example a small hotel in Palma de Mallorca where I lived for months called Hotel Born. Or the Ibsen Copenhagen Hotel , my last great love, especially since Copenhagen has gradually become a very important city for me” he confesses.
Of course, his palate is faithful to a single address: “O tachinho, in Portagem, Portugal . Highly recommended at this time. the ribs with chestnuts”.
And we couldn't end this conversation without knowing what readings awaken the wanderlust spirit of a writer.
“Pure life of Patrick Deville he made me travel to Central America . also years ago In Maremma by David Leavid It made me want to take a closer look at that part of Tuscany. I would now travel to Serodino (Argentina) to get to know the town Juan José Saer he concludes.