Spanish poet, philologist, and translator José María Micó won the 2026 International Alfonso Reyes Prize, announced on August 14 by the Secretaría de Cultura and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL), according to El Universal. The jury, composed of Sara Poot Herrera, Adolfo Castañón, and José María Espinasa, determined that his profile "manifests the ecumenical character of the award, honoring the rigor of his work across different areas, in research and essay as well as in translation and creative writing, in tune with Alfonso Reyes."
The award is presented by INBAL, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, and the Sociedad Alfonsina Internacional, as reported by Aristegui Noticias. Its list of laureates begins with Jorge Luis Borges and runs through Octavio Paz, Jorge Guillén, George Steiner, and Ida Vitale, a lineage that spans Spain and Latin America. For Spanish-language readers, the distinction reinforces the cultural bridge that Reyes himself built between Mexico and the rest of the Spanish-speaking world.
Micó, born in Barcelona in 1961, is a full professor of Spanish literature at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where he founded the Master's program in Literary Creation. A scholar of Góngora, the Golden Age, and the Renaissance, he is the author of Para entender a Góngora and De Dante a Borges, and his translation of Dante's Commedia has had wide circulation across Spanish-speaking countries. His career includes the Hiperión and Generación del 27 prizes, Spain's National Translation Prize, and the Zenda prize. Upon learning of the decision, Micó said that Alfonso Reyes's name has accompanied him since 1980, when he first became interested in Góngora's poetry, and that his dedication to the classics of the Golden Age was the natural consequence of that vocation.
The recognition adds another link to a list that began with Borges and keeps Reyes's legacy alive across the Spanish-speaking world. With Micó's translation circulating throughout the region, the literary dialogue between Mexico and Spain continues to find readers, and the award ceremony will be the next chapter.
This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.