History of the LOEWE Foundation International Poetry Prize

In 1988, the former president of the Foundation Enrique Loewe, the poet Luis Antonio de Villena and the editor Jesús Visor established what would become the most prestigious award for poetry in Spanish.

Juan Benet, José Hierro, Octavio Paz, Carlos Bousoño and Pablo García Baena are just some of the poets who sat on the jury of the prize.

See the finalists of the XXXVI edition

The evolution of the prize reflects the growth of a genre in constant transformation; from the wave of culturalist poetry of the 'Novisimos' (Newest Ones) around the 1980s and 1990s, up until the striking explosion of realist and existential poetry.

Maintaining its identity intact, the prize currently contributes to the progression of a genre that has been transformed by the surge of new voices and the increase of communication platforms to convey artistic expression. 

To explore the history of the prize, therefore, is to go on a journey of discovery though the annals of Spanish poetry.

Orlando Mondragón

(Guerrero, Mexico, 1993) is a surgeon from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco. Winner of the IV Alejandro Aura Young Poetry Prize for Epicedio al padre (2017), his first book. He has received grants form various literary creation programmes, including the Interfaz ISSSTE-Cultura in 2017, the Program to Stimulate the Creation and Artistic Development of the state of Guerrero (PECDAG) in 2018, and the Foundation for Mexican Letters in 2019. Currently, he studies the specialty in psychiatry.

In 2021 he won the XXXIV LOEWE FOUNDATION International Poetry Prize with his book Notebooks of human pathology.