Fatema Mernissi and Susan Sontag Prince of Asturias Award for Literature 2003

The Jury for the Prince of Asturias Award for Letter 2003, convened in Oviedo, comprising D. Andrés Amorós, D. Luis María Anson, D. J. J. Armas Marcelo, D.ª Blanca Berasátegui, D.ª Isabel Carrera, D. Pedro Casals, D. Antonio Colinas, D. Fernando Delgado, D. Francisco Javier Fernández Vallina, D. José Luis García Martín, D.ª Pilar García Mouton, D. Emilio González Ferrín, D. Fernando de Lanzas Sánchez del Corral, D.ª Rosa Navarro Durán, D. Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente, D. Fernando Sánchez Dragó, chaired by D. Víctor García de la Concha and with D. José María Martínez Cachero as secretary, have by majority vote decided to grant the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters 2003 to Fatema Mernissi and Susan Sontag.

Both authoresses share having produced literary works in different genres that are of outstanding quality from an aesthetic point of view, and which confront the essential issues of our times with profound depth of vision; they provide complementary perspectives in a dialogue between cultures.

Oviedo, 7th May 2003

(Note: Susan Sontag photograph by Annie Leibovitz)