Castro Villalobos has made a plea in favor of housing and paid tribute to the repressed protesters in Peru in 2022 and 2023
The Navarrese writer Javier Velaza and the Peruvian poet Omar Castro Villalobos received the XXXVII Loewe Poetry Prize on Wednesday at a ceremony held at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid, presented by the president of the Loewe Foundation, Sheila Loewe, and the honorary president of the organization, Enrique Loewe.
Meanwhile, Javier Velaza from Navarre received the Loewe Poetry Prize from the poet Jaime Siles – who is part of the jury that awards the prize – for his work ‘Las ignorancias’, defending the Foundation’s patronage. «Let’s vindicate ‘Loeweship’, which gives total freedom to the writer and protects,» Velaza pointed out.
The poet explained that his work consists of many ignorances, an «unsatisfied» condition of the human being. «There is not a single ignorance, the human being knows that they do not know. There is a metaphysical ignorance that leads us to the limit of what we can know and where we can go. A mystical ignorance and a concept, that of ‘homo ignorans’. A man who deliberately ignores because he does not want to face the burden and worries generated by knowledge. All these ignorances make up this book,» he explained.
On the other hand, Castro Villalobos, who received the 2024 Loewe Young Creation Prize from the writer Gioconda Belli, made a plea in favor of housing and the difficulty young people face in accessing it, dedicating the award to the people killed during protests in his native country, Peru, in 2022 and 2023. In his winning poem ‘Habitación persona sola’, he pays tribute to them in a text. «A social issue where the drama transcends,» highlighted Belli.
Furthermore, the writer, who also described the artist as a «poet with a very good heart,» defended that the theme of access to housing for young people, present in ‘Habitación persona sola’, is «an aspiration» that has been treated by the Peruvian with «wisdom, humor, and beauty».
«In this book, what could be a denunciation or a pamphlet avoids that with wisdom, humor, and beauty. It is more effective than many press reports,» added the Nicaraguan.
2,260 PARTICIPANTS FROM 39 COUNTRIES
The Jury of the 37th Loewe Foundation International Poetry Prize, chaired by Víctor García de la Concha and composed of Gioconda Belli, Antonio Colinas, Aurora Egido, Juan Antonio González Iglesias, Raquel Lanseros, María Negroni, Carme Riera, Jaime Siles, Luis Antonio de Villena, and Diego Roel, winner of the previous edition, awarded the prizes during the deliberation that took place in October 2024.
In this 37th edition, 2,260 participants from 39 countries applied, with 55% coming from Latin America, where Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia, in that order, had the highest participation rates. In Spain (43%), the provinces with the highest number of submitted works were Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Alicante. 26% were under 33 years old, and out of a total of 35 works, finalists were selected, as explained by Sheila Loewe.
On his part, the honorary president of the organization, Enrique Loewe, defended the legitimacy of the prize, ensuring that they do not engage in public relations, but human relations.
«I do not measure time through Christmas, but through poetry awards. It has been 30 years, and I always think that what I have to do is thank Sheila. The task is difficult because it is sincere and authentic, we do not engage in public relations, we engage in human relations. It seems that we are quite alone, I would like us to be the 200th Spanish company that supports poetry,» he stated.
The prize money is 30,000 euros for the Loewe Prize and 12,000 euros for the Young Creation Prize.
The award ceremony was attended by numerous figures from the cultural and fashion sectors, such as actress Carolina Yuste; writer Leticia Sala; screenwriter Alfonso Albacete; director of the Prado National Museum, Miguel Falomir; director Leticia Dolera; Sumar’s Communication Secretary, Elizabeth Duval; and the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero.