On the morning of Friday, April 22, 2022, Their Majesties King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain attended the Miguel de Cervantes Literature Prize ceremony held at the University of Alcalá de Henares.

The winner of the prize went to poet and novelist, Ms. Cristina Peri Rossi, from Uruguay. In a press release, the Miguel de Cervantes jury noted their reason for awarding the prize to Ms. Rossi:

“The jury has highlighted her career as one of the great literary vocations of today in a wide variety of genres and her ongoing commitment to contemporary issues such as the status of women and sexuality. Cristina Peri Rossi’s literature is a constant exercise in exploration and criticism, without shying away from the value of the word as an expression of a commitment to key issues of contemporary conversation such as the condition of women and sexuality. Finally, the jury emphasizes that her work, a bridge between Ibero-America and Spain, must remain as a perpetual reminder of exile and the political tragedies of the 20th century.”

The Miguel de Cervantes Literature Prize is a Spanish-language literature prize awarded annually by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport at the proposal of the Association of Spanish Language Academies. The 2021 Cervantes Prize has an endowment of 125,000 Euros.