Luis Goytisolo has been awarded the Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language 2018, granted by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The Jury mentioned “the irrenunciable and persistent commitment of Luis Goytisolo with literature and his desire to renew the traditional novel through the plurality of perspectives, including essay, philosophy and reflection on literary creation itself ”. He has also underlined Goytisolo's inescapable respect “for the language and the self-reflexive method of his narrative.” A work, in short, that “is an amazing verbal building.”
The award was created by the Mexican government to pay tribute to the writer Carlos Fuentes and “recognizes writers of long history whose work has been published in its entirety in Spanish and contributed to enrich the literary heritage of humanity in this language.”
The jury of this edition was formed by Aurora Egido, secretary of the Royal Spanish Academy; Jaime Labastida, director of the Mexican Academy of Language; the writers Nélida Piñón and Ruy Sánchez, and the Mexican writer and academic Eduardo Lizalde, winner of the Carlos Fuentes Award 2016.
The previous winners of the Carlos Fuentes Prize were, in addition to the aforementioned Eduardo Lizalde, Mario Vargas Llosa and Sergio Ramírez.