Margaret Atwood, Joan Margarit Poetry Prize winner

BarcelonaThe Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (Ottawa, 1939) has been recognized with the Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize. Atwood is the author of a notable body of poetry, with books such as the anthology Paper boat (2024), and is also a prestigious narrative voice with novels such as The Handmaid's Tale (1985).

"I am deeply honored to receive the Joan Margarit Prize, named after this brave and talented Catalan poet who was almost the same age as me. I wish I had met him when I was there. We lived in the same historical times, albeit in very different countries. Even so, we would have remembered many of the same things at the heart of language. It is a privilege to be able to practice such an ancient art and to find myself in such distinguished company," Atwood explained.

The jury, after considering the more than thirty nominations received, unanimously decided to award the prize to Margaret Atwood "for her poetic work, written since the beginning of her literary career, which stands out for her mastery of language capable of addressing themes such as feminism, ecology, and love." The jury was made up of Javier Santiso, founder of the publishing house La Pierna Sol; Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes and poet; Héctor Abad Faciolince, writer; Ana Santos, former director of the National Library, which houses Joan Margarit's legacy; and Mònica Margarit, the poet's daughter. In her assessment of the Canadian writer, she emphasized "her ability to address the most relevant issues of contemporary society, but always in relation to the human desire to find one's own identity."

The award ceremony will take place later this year. The publishing house La Cama Sol will publish the award-winning speech and distribute it with translations into Spanish and English. It will be a limited edition, including poems and works of art, and will be presented as a gift to those involved in the awards ceremony.

The annual award recognizes the work of foreign poets with a well-established career and international recognition. It responds to Joan Margarit's interest in making his favorite poets from other languages and countries known in both his own languages—Catalan and Spanish. Margarit translated, among others, Thomas Hardy, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Elizabeth Bishop.

In the two previous editions, the Joan Margarit Prize went to American poet Sharon Olds, who received the award at the Cervantes Institute in New York, and for to the Arab poet Adonis, which he collected at the Cervantes Institute in Paris.