Constanza Sánchez
Writer Álvaro Pombo (Santander, 1939) will «do everything possible» to attend the ceremony for the 2024 Cervantes Prize in Alcalá de Henares this Wednesday, although his speech will be read by writer and historian Mario Crespo due to his delicate health, sources close to him have told EFE.
Pombo, 85 years old, had previously announced his intention not to attend, but reconsidered at the last minute after a meeting at his home attended by Crespo, his personal assistant, Ignacio Laguna, and the philosopher José Antonio Marina. «His situation is very fragile, and at this time the plan is for him to go,» Crespo said, adding that they have already chosen a dress suit for the occasion and a black tie for the mourning of Pope Francis.
It is expected that María José Gálvez, the director general of the book, will pick him up at his home at ten in the morning to head to the paraninfo of the University of Alcalá, where the ceremony will take place at noon, presided over by the kings.
«I am feeling well, but I am very fragile», Pombo had excused himself for his absence from the ceremony to be presided over by the Spanish kings, Felipe and Letizia.
The author of novels like ‘Against Nature’ (2005) or ‘Santander, 1936’ (2023) also did not attend the lunch offered by the kings at the Royal Palace to the literary world on the occasion of the prize.
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Precisely, the speech he has written for the award, the most important in Spanish literature, will focus on «fragility» in the author of ‘Don Quixote’ and is titled ‘Cervantes, a theory of fragility’.
Álvaro Pombo, Cervantes Prize 2024
The Cervantes jury, chaired by the previous winner, Luis Mateo Díez, has recognized him for his ability to create «his own literary world that moves» and for his «extraordinary creative personality, unique lyricism, and original storytelling.»
The award ceremony, with the participation of the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, will be marked by the recent passing of Peruvian author, Mario Vargas Llosa, who won this prize in 1994 and also received the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature (1986) and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.
Mario Vargas Llosa and Madrid, the city where he decided to become a writer
After the award ceremony, Pombo is expected to virtually inaugurate the traditional continuous reading of Don Quixote, which will take place starting at six in the evening at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
The Cervantes ceremony is the central event of Book Day, celebrated on April 23, a date that commemorates the deaths of Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Inca Garcilaso de Vega.
