Élmer Mendoza Wins the 2026 Excellence in Letters and Humanities Award

Élmer Mendoza will receive Mexico's 2026 Excellence in Letters and Humanities Award in recognition of a literary career that has reached readers internationally. The Chamber of Deputies will present the award on October 14 at 5:30 p.m. at the Legislative Palace.

A jury made up of Luis García Montero, Marco Antonio Campos, Alí Calderón, Iliana Olmedo and Maritza M. Buendía unanimously selected Mendoza. The writer, playwright and academic has produced novels, short stories, drama and essays, and his work has been translated into more than 10 languages.

The jury highlighted Mendoza's ability to turn the speech and realities of northern Mexico into literature with universal reach. The Chamber of Deputies said the prize recognizes “his important contribution to culture and the promotion of reading, as well as in the training of new generations of writers.”

The award forms part of the Chamber's cultural program, which issued the prize for the second year. This year it also launched, for the first time, the Jaime Sabines Young Poetry Career Award, intended to support new generations of Mexican writers.

The program received 45 nominations from 15 Mexican states. Mendoza won from 24 nominations for the main award. Poet Lázaro Izael Rangel won the Jaime Sabines prize from 21 nominations, with the jury citing his solid and growing career in Mexican poetry and the harmony between his literary work and career. Rangel has also taken part in publications, festivals, book fairs and readings, while promoting new spaces for dialogue and contemporary poetic ideas.

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his important contribution to culture and the promotion of reading, as well as in the training of new generations of writers.