Argentine poet Diego Roel wins international prize honoring Lorca's birthplace

Argentine poet Diego Roel has won the VI International Poetry Prize of Fuente Vaqueros for his unpublished collection, "Último viaje." The competition featured 500 poetry collections from nearly thirty countries. The prize is awarded in Fuente Vaqueros, Granada, the hometown of the renowned writer Federico García Lorca.

The announcement was made by Mayor José Manuel Molino Alberto at the Lorquian Studies Center of Fuente Vaqueros on June 5, during celebrations marking the 128th anniversary of Lorca's birth. The jury, comprising poets Ramón Martínez, Fernando Operé, and Raquel Lanseros, unanimously selected Roel's work, describing it as a "brilliant" collection where imagery is "perfectly structured" within a circular narrative. The jury noted the seamless coexistence and blurring of the dreamlike and the real within the poems.

Roel, born in Temperley in 1980 and residing in Posadas, stated that the inspiration for "Último viaje" came from the work of poet Jorge Smerling and the 2015 shipwreck of La Sanmartiniana, an event in which his friend Juan Bautista Duizeide was involved. Roel, who considers himself a devoted admirer of Lorca, sees this award as particularly special. He mentioned that publishing the book allows him to close a chapter, quoting Marina Tsvetaieva: "Everything unsaid is infinite." He expressed deep affection for the book, which he rescued from an old computer and almost discarded, but polished significantly before submitting it.

The winning collection, set to be published in April 2027 in Fuente Vaqueros, is described as a "catabasis" or descent, contrasting with Roel's 2022 work "Pampero," which depicted an "anabasis" or ascent related to the tragedy of the Pampero balloon. Roel credited Valeria Pariso and Raquel Jaduszliwer for their support in restoring and encouraging him to submit the manuscript. Granada poet Gerardo Rodríguez Salas will write the back cover text. The prize includes the publication of the book in Valparaíso Ediciones' Poetry collection, with its release expected in the first half of 2027.