The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, presents the XVI Ibero-American Poetry Prize Hermanos Machado to writer Jorge Fernández Gonzalo for 'Marine Topography' in the Salón Colón of the City Hall. The contest reaches a record with 574 poets registered.
The Salón Colón of the City Hall of Seville hosted this Friday the award ceremony for the XVI Ibero-American Poetry Prize Hermanos Machado to writer Jorge Fernández Gonzalo for his poetry collection Marine Topography, published by the José Manuel Lara Foundation within the Vandalia collection. The event was supported by the aforementioned foundation and was presided over by the city's mayor, José Luis Sanz.
During his speech, Sanz defended the city's role in literary creation. "This Prize has a special importance for Seville. It is not just a literary recognition. It is a commitment to creation. It is a commitment to authors. It is a commitment to poetry in Spanish and to that extraordinary cultural space we share on both sides of the Atlantic," the mayor stated.
"When a city awards a poet, it is saying that it believes in words. When it publishes a book, it is saying that it believes in creation, and when it preserves the memory of its writers, it is saying that it knows where it comes from and where it is going."
From the José Manuel Lara Foundation, its general director, Pablo Morillo Pérez, valued the continuity of collaboration with the city council. "The Vandalia collection continues to enrich itself with the incorporation of solid and universal voices that consolidate this genre as a fundamental pillar of our culture," Morillo noted, adding that poetry "reaffirms itself as a unique space for encounter and reflection."
The contest has recorded a new participation record, with 574 poets registered, almost 80 more than in the previous edition. This figure consolidates the prize as a reference point for poetic creation in the Ibero-American sphere.
Marine Topography is structured in five sections that explore childhood, the awareness of time, the fragility of identity, and the complexity of love. The jury, chaired by the culture delegate of the City Hall of Seville, Angie Moreno Román, and composed of poets and critics Javier Salvago, Abelardo Linares, Jacobo Cortines, and Ignacio F. Garmendia, highlighted the meditative tone and richness of images in the work.
In the author's words, the book seeks a balance between the conceptual and the sensory. "I always try to find a way to balance the conceptual and the sensory," Fernández Gonzalo states, who views poetry as "a space of fiction to make life more real."
Jorge Fernández Gonzalo (Madrid, 1982) is a Philosophy professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and the author of more than twenty poetry collections and several essays. Among the awards he has received are the Joaquín Benito de Lucas for Dumb Astonishment, the Hiperión de Poesía Joven for A Leaf of Almond, the Vicente Núñez for Modeling a Body, the César Simón for Like a Diver in the Desert, and the Juan Gil-Albert-Ciutat de València for Insectarium. As an essayist, he has published Zombie Philosophy, finalist for the Anagrama Prize; Public Man, Fray Luis de León Prize; and The Ridiculous Remainder, Alfons el Magnànim Prize.
The awarded poetry collection is now available in bookstores through the Vandalia collection of the José Manuel Lara Foundation, allowing Seville readers to engage with a work that transforms memory, nature, and language into an inner exploration.
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