Adam Zagajewski 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature

Statement by Adam Zagajewski on being bestowed with the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature

“It is a great honour to be awarded this magnificent prize coming from the kingdom of Spain which is also the kingdom of Cervantes and other great poets and writers. A poet works in solitude but then suddenly comes an unexpected news. Thank you!”

Adam Zagajewski
Krakow, 8th June 2017

Statement by Richard Ford following the conferral of the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature on Adam Zagajewski

“Adam Zagajewski's luminous, profound, sometimes wry, always lyrical poetry manages that rare writerly triumph: to be political and yet to be supremely human in one continuous, complex and irresistible gesture. His is writing that all of us who care about the direction of our globe -- as direction is followed by us regular souls -- should emulate. The Princess of Asturias jury has chosen a rare writer indeed. I congratulate the jury and Mr. Zagajewski.”

Richard Ford
2016 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature
Dublin, 8th June 2017

Statement by John Banville following the conferral of the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature on Adam Zagajewski

“I offer my delighted congratulations to Adam Zagajewski as the recipient of the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature 2017. Zagajewski is one of the finest poets of the age, who has sustained and furthered the great literary tradition of his native Poland, and is a living affirmation of the cultural strength and richness of our common European homeland.”

John Banville
2014 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature
Dublin, 8th June 2017