Ana Blandiana 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature

Statement by Ana Blandiana on being granted the 2024 Princess of Astturias Award for Literature

“I find it difficult to express my feelings and gratitude for the great honour that the bestowal of the Princess of Asturias Award represents for me, especially because –as always whenever I receive an award– I cannot help but recall Plato’s thought that recommended the coronation of poets with laurels and their expulsion from the city. But what if for me poetry is actually a path to the polis, a way to stay, a way to accompany the suffering of others?!?!

Thank you for the echo that your prestigious award will lend to my ideas and my poems, which will also amplify them in the consciousness of Spanish readers around the world.”

Ana Blandiana
Bucharest, 23rd May 2024