Xerardo Quintiá has won the 24th edition of the Premio de Poesía Afundación. The award was announced on 29 September 2026 at Afundación’s branch in Santiago de Compostela . The winning collection is titled Os cantos a Minha Senhor and will be published in the Arte de trobar series. The prize is worth 7,000 euros.
The Premio de Poesía is awarded by Afundación Afundación, in collaboration with the Centro PEN Galicia; the Xunta de Galicia supports the award. The Xunta de Galicia’s Director-General for Culture, Anxo M. Lorenzo, attended the announcement. He praised the award’s contribution “to culture and the normalisation of the Galician language” and spoke of a resurgence in Galician poetry, which has gained growing recognition beyond the region in recent years. As evidence, he cited recent national honours for writers such as Miriam Reyes, Chus Pato and Yolanda Castaño.
The jury selected Quintiá’s manuscript from 46 anonymously submitted, unpublished works. According to the announcement, the panel was chaired by the poet and essayist Luís González Tosar . Press reports say the jury praised the formal rigour combined with experimental verse, as well as the collection’s thematic range, which brings cultural motifs into a contemporary discussion. The jury’s written citation is usually made available when the book is published in the Arte de trobar series.
Quintiá is from the municipality of Friol in the province of Lugo and has been a familiar presence on the Galician literary scene for years. The Premio de Poesía Afundación strengthens his standing in a genre supported in Galicia by a dense network of publishers, literary centres and funding institutions. The prize was established in 2002 and is regarded as one of the most important awards for poetry in the Galician language. Past winners have had a lasting influence on the region’s poetry, and publication of the winning collections in the Arte de trobar series also increases their visibility in bookshops.
For Afundación and Centro PEN Galicia, this year’s decision is also a sign of continuity. Both institutions have long emphasised that unpublished manuscripts submitted anonymously ensure fair competition. Support from the Xunta de Galicia further anchors the prize in the region’s cultural policy framework. This year’s edition bears out that ambition through the range of submissions and the continued appointment of a high-profile jury chair.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).