Orlando Modragón Wins Loewe Foundation Poetry Prize

Poetry as a consolation, after the pandemic and in the current situation of war, made its way this Wednesday at the delivery of the XXXIV Loewe Foundation International Poetry Prize to the Mexican writer and doctor Orlando Mondragón, 28, for his book “Cuadernos de patología humana”. Orlando Mondragón, a surgeon born in 1993 in Guerrero, Mexico, won this international poetry prize, one of the most important in the genre and endowed with 25,000 euros (about 27,485 dollars at the current exchange rate), last October, after being selected among almost three thousand participants from 42 countries, according to the ruling of a prestigious jury chaired by Víctor García de la Concha.The winning book, published in the Visor Collection, is according to the jury, a volume where the poetic beauty contained in this kind of “medical diary” that is the work and its treatment of pain and death stands out. Read more: The winners of the photography contest ‘Ode to the amapa: biocultural heritage of Culiacán’ announced At the award ceremony, the president of the Foundation that awards the international poetry prize, Sheila Loewe, indicated how after two “very hard” years of pandemic and the enormous sadness of the war in Ukraine, the consolation of poetry remains “and being able to share it”. Sheila Loewe highlighted the fact that more than 55 percent of the poetry books submitted to this edition have come from Latin America (with Argentina, Mexico and Colombia at the head, in this order). And also that almost 20 percent of the poetry books presented came from young authors under 33 years of age. Precisely this year has been the first time in the history of the award in which the Loewe prize is given to a child under 30 years of age and, therefore, following the rules of the contest, this year the Young Creation prize has not been awarded.Specifically, 2,773 participants from 42 countries have attended this edition, which represents an increase of 172 percent compared to the previous call and the highest number of poetry books presented in the 34-year history of the award. When collecting the award, Orlando Mondragón stressed the work it took him to make this book of poems, which began in 2017, and pointed out that as a doctor he always tends to put a barrier between him and the patient and how writing this book of poems “opened his eyes to discover that the relationship between the two is in both senses”. The event was attended by numerous personalities from the world of culture, such as the Nobel Prize for Literature Mario Vargas LLosa; the president of the Reina Sofía High School, Paloma O’Shea, and the pianist Rosa Torres Pardo, as well as other representatives of the world of art and fashion. Read more: Where does the origin of the word Poltrona come from? This award has a trajectory of more than three decades in which the work of outstanding poets such as Óscar Hahn, Cristina Peri Rossi, Luis García Montero or Jaime Siles has been recognized. Collapse in stone mine leaves four injured in Toluca; have already been taken care of

Original source in Spanish