The lively talk of Doña Letizia and the Cervantes prize, Luis Mateo Díez: walk through the Patio de los Filósofos

Solemn, ceremonious and brilliant. A day to celebrate the word, the literary tribute to Don Quixote and the festival of letters in Spanish. Kings Felipe VI and Letizia have awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize to the Leonese writer Luis Mateo Diez in an event that left us with the long-awaited speech from the winner. It took place in the Auditorium of the University of Alcalá de Henares in Madrid this Tuesday, April 23.

Doña Letizia, an avid reader (she always stops by the Madrid Book Fair), loves this quote. With admiration and expectation, the Kings congratulated the winner at the doors of the Paraninfo.

Minutes before the event began, we saw the Leonese writer taking a photo with his four brothers and his children. He has posed with the president of the community of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, who whispered to him “today is a day of great patience.” We have seen the president, Pedro Sanchezand to the Minister of Culture, Ernest Usastun. Also, to the president of the community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, stellar with that electric blue outfit with the big bow on the blouse. It marked the morning suit ceremony, worn by the monarch, the president and the minister.

Walk and talk

The 81-year-old novelist from León has received the medal and sculpture from Felipe VI and Letizia. Both, with admiration, shook hands with the winner. He has brought the novelist to the stand. From there he has revisited his childhood years, of school teachers, of the one who read Don Quixote aloud in the classroom and whose reading brought him closer to the immortal Cervantine character. A speech about memory. He has cited Rafael Azcona and Rilke, with “childhood that is the lost homeland of man.” He recalled his lived and literary career: “Telling life was my aspiration” and he gave us words like “writing is discovering.”

Luis Mateo Díez, prolific writer with more than 30 to his credit, creator of the kingdom of Celama, has spoken with the wisdom of the years, the wisdom that gives life. The one that reconnects with the memories of being a child, with the invented land of Celama. The applause has accompanied him on his descent to the seat, which he occupied next to Luis García Montero, director of the Cervantes Institute.

Don Felipe closed the event with his intervention. The monarch has highlighted Díez as an “exceptional novelist”, in whom humor stands out: “The best way to relativize everything that happens”, he said, rescuing a phrase from Díez. “A formidable creator of worlds and imaginary territories,” concluded the head of state. At the end of the ceremony, the Gaudeamus Igitur of the university choir.

Afterwards, the winner shared an animated talk from Mrs. Letizia. They were going for a walk through the Philosophers’ Courtyard with the King. Minutes later, a Spanish wine was served.

Díez presents novel

The one from Villablino, former official of the Madrid City Council and member of the Royal Spanish Academy with the capital I chair, also presents his new novel El amo de la pista (Alfaguara). He is also the author of The Fountain of Age, with which he won the National Literature Prize. With The Ruin of Heaven (2000) he won the National Prize for Literature and Criticism; and with The Head on Fire (2012), the Francisco Umbral for book of the year. In 2022 he wrote Celama (a retelling).