Madrid, Nov 4 - Gonzalo Celorio has just been awarded the Cervantes Prize for Literature 2025, another nod today to Mexico from Spain in an effort to restore bilateral relations to their best level.
This is no ordinary gesture, nor does it fall within the political realm as such. However, after two consecutive awards to Spanish writers (Álvaro Pombo and Luis Mateo Díez), it was time for the traditional alternation to a Latin American author.
Celorio's selection has all the arguments to honor an author whom the jury praised for his "exceptional literary work and intellectual contribution that has profoundly and sustainably enriched the Spanish language and culture."
Mexico is an undeniable stronghold of Ibero-American culture, and from this reality, Spain deepens its ties, which have been strained recently by the demands of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, echoed by his successor Claudia Sheinbaum, for apologies regarding the excesses of colonialism.
"Over more than five decades, he has consolidated a literary voice of notable elegance and reflective depth that combines critical lucidity with a narrative sensitivity exploring the nuances of identity, sentimental education, and loss," noted the jury.
Spain's Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, praised Celorio's work as a testament to modern Mexico.
In this cycle of alternation, the countdown shows that before Pombo and Mateo, there were Venezuelan Rafael Cadenas (2022), Uruguayan Cristina Peri Rossi (2021), two more Spaniards consecutively, Francisco Brines (2020) and Joan Margarit (2019), along with Uruguayan Ida Vitale (2018) and Nicaraguan Sergio Ramírez (2017).
In the gold book of recent years’ Cervantes winners are Spaniard Eduardo Mendoza (2016), Mexican Fernando del Paso (2015), Spaniard Juan Goytisolo (2014), Mexican Elena Poniatowska (2013), Spaniard José Manuel Caballero Bonald (2012), and Chilean Nicanor Parra (2011), among others.
There are, by the way, illustrious names from Mexico that are added to this select list, including none other than Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Sergio Pitol, and José Emilio Pacheco. Additionally, it was Spaniard Jorge Guillén who was the first winner of these awards in 1976.
Another curiosity is the only 'ex aequo' award, given to Argentine Jorge Luis Borges and Spaniard Gerardo Diego in 1979. The highest award in Spanish literature comes with a prize of 125,000 euros and is presented each year at the University of Alcalá de Henares.
In his books resonate irony, tenderness, and erudition, tracing an emotional and cultural map that has influenced generations of readers and writers, noted the jury.
Another great celebration for Mexico in Spain, a country that will also be the Guest of Honor at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur) in Madrid in January 2026.
