October 17th, 2025 — Civitella is proud to share that Nicaraguan poet and novelist Gioconda Belli (CRF 2025) has won the 2025 Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language, one of the highest literary awards in the Spanish language. The award will be bestowed on the writer on November 11th.
Gioconda was selected for “her capacity to renew Hispanic American poetry and the power of her dialogue between society, history, and literature through her narrative,” writes the collegiate body—composed of Rodrigo Martínez Baracs, PhD in History, representing the Mexican Academy of Language; writer Ana Clavel, representing the National System of Art Creators; poet Natalia Toledo, representing the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico; writer Claudia Piñeiro, representing the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); and writer Luis García Montero, winner of the 2024 edition. They went on to highlight Gioconda’s work as “the connection between intimate reflection and shared memory.”
About the Award
Gioconda is the 10th person to receive the honor, bestowed annually since 2019 by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico and the National Autonomous University of Mexico to writers who, through their entire body of work (written entirely or substantially in Spanish), have enriched the literary heritage of humanity. It was established in memory of the eponymous Mexican writer in 2012, the year of his death, and awarded biannually until 2019.
About Gioconda Belli
Gioconda is among the most widely read Latin American writers in the Americas and Europe and she has already won several awards including the 1978 Casa de las Américas Prize, the 1992 Luchs (Struggle) Prize, the 1989 German Librarians, Publishers, and Booksellers’ Prize for Political Novel of the Year, the Anna Seghers Prize (X), the 2005 Silver Feather Award at the Bilbao Book Fair in Spain, the 28th International Poetry Prize of the City of Melilla (2006), Biblioteca Breve Novel Prize (2008), the Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz Award (X), and the 2010 Latin American Novel Prize from La Otra Orilla.
Gioconda was a member of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. Her stance against the Anastasio Somoza regime led her to her first exile in Mexico and Costa Rica between 1975 and 1979 and her opposition to Daniel Ortega’s regime has led her to her current exile in Spain since 2021. in 2023, she was stripped of her Nicaraguan nationality. She has adopted both Spanish and Chilean citizenship.
Image: Diego Mencaroni, Civitella’s Residency Director, Gioconda Belli, and Civitella’s Programs Assistant Greta Caseti at Teatro Il Pavone In Perugia for “Questa è Acqua” Lietrary Festival. Gioconda spoke about the books and authors who most influenced her and also read form her poetry.