Juan Carlos Mestre (Spain)

Juan Carlos MESTRE (b. Villafranca del Bierzo, León, 1957) is a poet and graphic artist. He is the author of several books of poetry and essays, including Antífona del Otoño en el Valle del Bierzo (Adonáis Prize, 1985), La poesía ha caído en desgracia (Jaime Gil de Biedma Prize, 1992), and La tumba de Keats (Jaén Poetry Prize, 1999). His poetic work has been included in numerous anthologies. For his book La casa roja, he received the National Poetry Prize in 2009, and for the collection La bicicleta del panadero, he was awarded the Critics’ Prize. Museo de la clase obrera is his most recent publication.

In 2018, he was awarded the European “Homer” Medal for Poetry and Art, the “Annual Cheng Ziáng Prize” from the China Writers Association, and the Castilla y León Literature Prize in recognition of his body of work. He is also the author of El universo está en la noche (2006), a book of versions based on Mesoamerican myths and legends, and 200 gramos de patacas tristes (2019), his first work written in the Galician language. In 2022, he received the Casa Bukowski International Poetry Prize.