They give the Romanian poet Ana Blandiana the Princess of Asturias Award for Letters 2024

Madrid. The Romanian poet Ana Blandiana, born in Timisoara, in 1942, was awarded the Princess of Asturias Prize for Literature 2024, for being a radically unique creatorwhat raises fundamental questions about the existence of human beings, in solitude and society, in the face of nature and history. After hearing the news, the writer remembered Plato, who recommended the crowning of poets with laurels and their expulsion from the city.

The jury of the Princess of Asturias Letters Prize was composed in this edition by writers, journalists and academics, including Mexican Juan Villoro, as well as Blanca Berasategui Garaizabal, Jesus Garcia Calero, Pablo Gil Cuevas, Francisco Goyanes Martinez, Lola Larumbe Doral , Aurora Luque Ortiz, Ines Martin Rodrigo, Juan Mayorga Ruano and Irene Vallejo Moreu, among others, in addition to the presidency of the director of the Royal Academy of Language, Santiago Munoz Machado.

This group of intellectuals justified the recognition with the argument that Ana Blandiana is an heir to the most brilliant literary traditions, as well as a radically unique creator. Her writing, which combines transparency and complexity, raises fundamental questions about the existence of human beings, in solitude and society, in the face of nature and history. With her indomitable poetry, she has shown an extraordinary capacity for resistance in the face of censorship..

The poet, from her home and after receiving the news, said: “I find it difficult to express my emotion and gratitude for the great honor that the awarding of the Princess of Asturias Award represents for me, especially because – as always when I receive an award – I cannot help but remember Plato’s thought that recommended the crowning of poets with laurels and their expulsion from the city. But what if for me poetry is really a path to polis, a way to stay, a way to accompany the suffering of others?”

Finally, he thanked the echo that your prestigious award will give to my ideas and my poems, and that will amplify them in the consciousness of readers around the world.

The award-winning author is, in addition to being a poet, essayist and politician. She published her first book of poems in 1964. first person plural, but he became popular in his country with the publication of The vulnerable heel, in 1966, and The third sacrament, in 1969. In his youth he worked for magazines Student Life y Amphitheater –where she published some poems that have become icons of the fight against the communist regime– and was a librarian at the Bucharest Institute of Fine Arts.

Author of protest

Her biography summarizes the severity of that regime, once she, considered daughter of an enemy of the people, he was prohibited from studying at university after the appearance in 1959 of his first poem in a magazine. In the late 80s he began writing protest poetry. After the 1989 revolution, he began his political life with a campaign that promoted the elimination of the communist legacy and the creation of an open society. She is honorary president of the PEN of Romania, she is a member of the European Poetry, Mallarmé Poetry, World Poetry Academies (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the Romanian Writers’ Union. Since 1994 she has been a founding member and president of The Civic Alliance, a movement that seeks to overcome the consequences of more than 50 years of communism in her country.

She is also the author of essays, editions of fantastic stories and two novels. Translated into more than 20 languages, in Spanish they have been published Harvest of angels (2007), in bilingual edition; Past projects (2008), The four Seasons (2014), The reflux of the senses (2016), Mi patria A4 (2014), October November December (2017), First person plural / The vulnerable heel (2021), Variations on a given theme (2021) y The dream within the dream and other poems (2023).