Leonardo Padura Princess of Asturias Award for Literature 2015

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, composed of Xosé Ballesteros Rey, Xuan Bello Fernández, Blanca Berasátegui Garaizábal, José Manuel Blecua Perdices, Luis Alberto de Cuenca y Prado, José Luis García Martín, Berna González Harbour, Álex Grijelmo García, Beatriz de Moura, Rosa Navarro Durán, Carme Riera i Guilera, Fernando Rodríguez Lafuente, Fernando Sánchez Dragó, Ana Santos Aramburo, Sergio Vila-Sanjuán Robert, Juan Villoro Ruizchaired by Darío Villanueva Prieto and with José Luis García Delgado acting as secretary, has decided to confer the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature on Cuban writer Leonardo Padura.

He is a decidedly contemporary author rooted in tradition; an investigator of both what is considered cultured and what is considered popular; an independent intellectual, with a firm ethical temperament.

In Leonardo Padura’s vast body of work, which covers all genres of prose, one recourse that characterizes his literary resolve stands out: an interest in listening to people’s voices and the lost stories of others.

Via his fiction, Padura reveals the challenges and limits involved in the search for truth. An impeccable exploration of history and the ways of recounting it.

His work is a magnificent adventure of dialogue and freedom.

Oviedo, 10th June 2015