MADRID (AFP) — Argentinian poet Juan Gelman was Thursday awarded the Cervantes literary prize, considered the equivalent of a Nobel in the Spanish-speaking world, Spain's Culture Minister Cesar Antonio Molina announced.
Hailed as one of the greatest poets writing in Spanish, his works have been translated into 10 languages.
Born in 1930 in Buenos Aires of Ukrainian descent, Gelman campaigned in the 1970s against the military dictatorships in Argentina and Uruguay.
Threatened by Argentina's anti-communist alliance, he went into exile for 12 years in 1975, first in Italy then in France and Mexico.
In 1976, his 20-year-old son and daughter-in-law, then seven months pregnant, were detained by the military authorities.
His son was tortured and killed, and his daughter-in-law was among the many who disappeared during the dictatorship.
After 23 years, Gelman found his granddaughter in Uruguay, where she had been brought up by the family of a policeman.
The Cervantes prize, worth 90,450 euros (133,000 dollars) will be given to him on April 23, the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), Spain's greatest literary figure and the author of Don Quixote.
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