The Diplomat
The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, presented this Wednesday the Joan Margarit International Poetry Prize to the Arab poet Ali Ahmad Said Esber (Al Qassabin, Syria, 94 years old), better known as Adonis, at the headquarters of the Instituto Cervantes in the French capital.
Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes, Victorio Redondo, ambassador of Spain in France, and Javier Santiso, founder of the publishing house La Cama Sol, participated in the ceremony. Also present were Yolanda Soler, poet and director of the Instituto Cervantes Institute, who read extracts from Adonis’ work in Spanish, and Ninar Esber, artist and daughter of the poet, who recited his verses in Arabic.
After the award ceremony, Adonis closed the ceremony with a speech of thanks. As part of this recognition, the poet’s speech will be included in a limited edition to be published by La Cama Sol, which will include works of art and poems, with translations into Spanish, English and French.
Ali Ahmad Said Esber, known as Adonis, was born in Syria in 1930, but has developed his career in Lebanon. A Nobel Prize candidate several times, he is a pioneer in modern Arabic poetry, whose work reflects his commitment to human rights.
Adonis has been awarded “for a lyrical work of unquestionable quality and for its cultural dialogue between civilizations, between East and West” and for his “bicultural poetic work such as that of Joan Margarit”, as stated in the act signed by Luis García Montero, Javier Santiso, the Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, the former director of the National Library, Ana Santos, and Mònica Margarit, daughter of the poet who gives his name to the award. ´
The award, which is given annually, recognises the work of foreign poets with an internationally recognised career, responding to the interest that the poet Joan Margarit (1938-2021) had in making his favourite poets from other languages known in their two languages, Catalan and Spanish.
This is the second edition of this recognition, promoted by the Instituto Cervantes and the publishing house La Cama Sol and Margarit’s family to internationally disseminate the figure of the Catalan author, winner of the Cervantes Prize and the Reina Sofía Prize for Poetry, among others, and to celebrate the talent of outstanding contemporary authors.
