Alfonso Reyes International Prize Explained

The Alfonso Reyes International Prize is a Mexican award given for meritorious lifetime contributions to literary research and criticism. It was founded in 1972 by the economist turned author/critic, Francisco Zendejas and was named in honor of Alfonso Reyes, a well-known Mexican literary critic, author and poet.^[1]

Since its creation, the prize has been awarded by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), in cooperation with the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Conaculta), the Sociedad Alfonsina Internacional, the government of Nuevo León, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, the Universidad Regiomontana and the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey.

The first award was presented in 1973. No awards were given from 1996-1999.

Recipients

• • • • • • 1973: Jorge Luis Borges 1974: Marcel Bataillon 1975: Alejo Carpentier 1976: André Malraux 1977: Jorge Guillén 1978: James Willis Robb^[2]
        • 1979: Carlos Fuentes 1980: Ernesto Mejía Sánchez 1981: Jacques Soustelle 1982: José Luis Martínez Rodríguez 1983: Paulette Patout^[3]
  • 1984: Rubén Bonifaz Nuño 1985: Octavio Paz
    • • 1986: Alí Chumacero 1987: Gutierre Tibón 1988: Ramón Xirau 1989: Laurette Séjourné
      • 1990: Adolfo Bioy Casares 1991: Andrés Henestrosa 1992: Arnaldo Orfila Reynal 1993: Joaquín Díez-Canedo^[4]
        • 1994: Germán Arciniegas 1995: Juan José Arreola 2000: Arturo Uslar Pietri 2001: Miguel León-Portilla 2002: Rafael Gutiérrez Girardot
  • 2003: Harold Bloom 2004: José Emilio Pacheco
• 2005: Antonio Candido
• 2006: Margit Frenk
• 2007: George Steiner
• 2008: Ernesto de la Peña
• 2009: Alfonso Rangel Guerra
• 2010: Mario Vargas Llosa
• 2011: Eduardo Lizalde
• 2012: Ignacio Bosque
• 2013: Fernando del Paso^[5]
• 2017: Alberto Manguel
• 2019: Herbert S. Klein^[6]

Notes and References

1. http://www.literatura.bellasartes.gob.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=91 Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes: Alfonso Reyes International Prize
2. James Willis Robb (1918-2010, b. Queens, New York) was a Professor of Romance Languages at George Washington University. He wrote El Estilo de Alfonso Reyes (Imagen y Estructura), Fondo de Cultura Económica (1978)
3. Paulette Patout (b. Sète, France) was a Professor of Literature at the University of Toulouse II – Le Mirail. She wrote Alfonso Reyes et la France, Klincksieck (1978)
4. Joaquín Díez-Canedo (1917-1999, b. Madrid), was the son of poet Enrique Díez-Canedo. He was the founder of Editorial Joaquín Mortiz, a major publisher of new Mexican writers, and served as General Manager of the Fondo de Cultura Económica.
5. Web site: Mexican Writer Fernando del Paso Wins Alfonso Reyes Prize . Latin American Herald Tribune . January 1, 2014 . December 31, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131231052502/http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=1393577&CategoryId=13003 . dead .
6. https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/letras/herbert-s-klein-ganador-del-premio-alfonso-reyes-2019 Otorgan el Premio Alfonso Reyes 2019 a Herbert S. Klein