Mundus Artium Press names Claudio Rodríguez Fer winner of the 2025 Babel Prize for Literature
DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, February 19, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Mundus Artium Press Awards 2025 Babel International Prize for Literature to Claudio Rodríguez Fer
Ceremony in Santiago de Compostela featured an expansive multilingual recital
Mundus Artium Press, housed at the University of Texas at Dallas, has named the Spanish poet, scholar, and translator Claudio Rodríguez Fer the recipient of its 2025 Babel International Prize for Literature, honoring a lifetime of work advancing literary dialogue across languages and cultures.
Rodríguez Fer accepted the award at the University of Santiago de Compostela’s Faculty of Philology. The prize was presented by Prof. Gjekë Marinaj, the Albanian born American writer who directs Mundus Artium Press. The ceremony was opened and closed by the faculty’s dean, Elías J. Feijoo Torres, with participation from students Claudia Seivane (Hispanic Philology) and Fernando Apolinar (English Philology).
Marinaj’s remarks, delivered in English, were made accessible through Galician translation projected by Elsa González Álvarez, vice-dean for culture and an English studies professor, with additional Galician interpretation by Apolinar. An upcoming issue of Mundus Artium, the press’s literary magazine, will include coverage of the award, including an interview with Rodríguez Fer translated into English by Adina Ioana Vladu.
Rodríguez Fer directs the José Ángel Valente Chair of Poetry and Aesthetics at the University of Santiago de Compostela and has held visiting appointments in the United States and Europe. His honors include Spain’s National Critics Award and an honorary doctorate from Université Haute Bretagne–Rennes. His writing and scholarship are widely associated with avant-garde literary traditions and an enduring engagement with peace, human rights, and historical memory.
A centerpiece of the program was a multilingual reading of Rodríguez Fer’s poem A cabeleira (“The Hair”) in more than three dozen languages. First issued in 1995 as a polyglot edition—Galician alongside English, French, and Spanish—the work has since expanded to dozens of translations, reflecting the prize’s emphasis on translation as a practical bridge across cultural and linguistic divides.
The Babel Prize for Literature
The Babel Prize for Literature is awarded annually to honor breakthroughs in literature that cross languages, recognizing either a translator or a writer for a major work or lifetime achievement advancing literary communication across cultures. First presented under its current name in 2021, the prize traces its origins to the earlier Rainer Schulte Prize, created to celebrate excellence in translated literature. Inspired by the Tower of Babel as a symbol of isolation, the award highlights honorees who use translation to foster connection, empathy, and shared understanding. Nominations are submitted by qualified translators, publishers, academics, and advisers, with selections made by the Babel Prize committee.
A. Alvarez
Mundus Artium Press
+1 972-886-5050
News@mundusartiumpress.org
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