Colombian Alejandro Cortés wins a poetry prize in Spain for his work "The Light of Life Detained."

Colombian Alejandro Cortés González wins the Pilar Fernández Labrador International Poetry Prize , awarded in the city of Salamanca (western Spain), for his book "The Light of Life Detained."

Cortés's work was chosen from among 1,213 manuscripts submitted from 26 countries for this award, which is limited to Spain and Latin America and has no cash prize. Although the prologue will be written by Carmen Ruiz Barironuevo, Professor of Hispanic American Literature at the University of Salamanca. The runner-up for the prize went to Bolivian author Verónica Delgadillo for her book "Invasion of the Walls."

For the jury, 'The Light of Life Stopped' is a book that explores poetry as the only way to confront the principle of uncertainty that prevails in human life, a metapoetic book where the author's own and others' voices serve to explore the mechanisms of poetic creation, the very expressive power of the word.

Alfredo Pérez Alencart, the prize's literary coordinator, said in a statement that this award "has become a benchmark both on this side and beyond the Spanish language. " "It doesn't award a single euro, but it grants the prestige and recognition that fosters or consolidates a dedication to poetic writing," he stated.

Among the other 11 finalists, the jury decided to award a runner-up prize to the book "Invasion of the Walls" by Bolivian author Verónica Delgadillo . The book will be published by the Salamanca Provincial Council and will feature a prologue by Colombian poet Federico Díaz Granados, a member of the jury.

" The home, as a space of family memory but also as a territory of introspection and the search for one's own identity, is the major metaphor upon which this collection of poems of restrained lyricism is built, where the feminine voice plays a fundamental expressive role," the jury stated.

The award ceremony and the runner-up prize are scheduled for October 12, as part of the events scheduled for the 28th Ibero-American Poets Meeting, organized in Salamanca by the Salamanca City of Culture and Knowledge Foundation.