The Cervantes, the Nobel Prize of Hispanic Literature

The Cervantes, the most important prize for literature written in the Spanish language, was created by the Ministry of Culture in 1975 for Spanish and Hispanic American writers, with winners being awarded €125,000, a medal, and a sculpture. The prize may not be declared void or awarded posthumously.

The Cervantes is awarded on April 23, the day of Miguel de Cervantes' death and World Book Day, or on the closest date possible. Candidates must have their work published fully or essentially in Spanish.

Cuban-born Alejo Carpentier was the first Hispanic American to receive this award. He said in his speech, "As a child, I used to play around a statue of Cervantes in Havana, where I was born. As an adult, I find new lessons every day in his inexhaustible work."

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges received the award in 1979 together with the Spaniard Gerardo Diego, the only edition in which there were two winners.

Juan Carlos Onetti was the first Uruguayan writer to win the coveted award.

Mexico, with six winners, is the Latin American country with the most Cervantes prizes. The first Mexican winner was Octavio Paz, in 1981. "The Cervantes Prize reminds us that the language we speak is a reality no less decisive than the ideas we profess or the trade we practice."

"Cervantes is the forefather of all of us who write in Spanish today," said Argentine-born Ernesto Sábato in his speech after receiving the prize in 1984.

The Mexican Carlos Fuentes won the Cervantes in 1987, stating that it was "the ultimate prize for a writer in our language."

The first and only Paraguayan author to be awarded the Cervantes Prize, in 1989.

"Who could have told me that after 60 happy years telling stories, I'd receive the prize named after the beloved writer who started me off in literature," said the Argentine writer.

Vargas Llosa was the first Peruvian to win the Cervantes, in 1994, stressing that "by writing Don Quixote's story, Cervantes thrust the Spanish language to heights that it had never reached and set an emblematic limit for those of us who write in it."

The Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante won the prize in 1997, after his compatriots Alejo Carpentier and Dulce María Loynaz had previously done so.

The Chilean writer Jorge Edwards, who nurtured all literary genres, was awarded the Cervantes in 1999.

In 2001, this honor was granted to the Colombian Álvaro Mutis, who always said he felt "huge admiration" for Cervantes.

Gonzalo Rojas, a Chilean writer who won in 2003, celebrated his Cervantes by wearing a traditional bachelor's gown.

The Mexican Sergio Pitol received the Cervantes Prize with great joy and pride in 2005.

The poet, translator, and journalist Juan Gelman won the Cervantes Prize in 2007.

José Emilio Pacheco, one of the members of Mexico's Generation of '50, won the so-called Nobel in Hispanic literature in 2009.

The Chilean Nicanor Parra won the prize in 2011, when he was 97 years old, and it was his grandson Cristóbal Ugarte who picked up the Cervantes on his behalf in the auditorium of the University of Alcalá de Henares.

Fernando del Paso was a Mexican writer who was honored in 2015, and was the first Hispanic American writer to be awarded the Cervantes by King Felipe VI after the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos I.

Nicaragua is represented in the list of Cervantes winners by Sergio Ramírez, who collected it in 2017.

The Venezuelan Rafael Cadenas earned the highest distinction in Hispanic literature in 2022. He preferred not to dress in the traditional jacket that award winners usually wear.

Commemorative sculpture engraved with their name that Cervantes-winning writers receive.